(Sf)P^ 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 


INAUGURATION 


kit  IntatBtrid  ^400!  f0r  iirls, 


AT   LANCASTER,   AUG.  27,   1856: 


ADDRESSES   BY  H.  B.  ROGERS,  ESQ.,   HON.   G.  S.  BOUTWELL, 
AND   OTHERS. 


BOSTON: 

PRINTED   BY  JOHN   WILSON   AND   SON, 

22,  School  Street. 


)^9P; 


1856. 


^riOS^ 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 


INAUGURATION 


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AT  LANCASTER,  AUG.  27,   1856; 


ADDRESSES  BY  H.  B.  EOGERS,  ESQ.,  HON.  G.  S.  BOUTWELL, 
AND   OTHERS. 


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BOSTON: 

PRINTED 

BY 
22 

JOHN  WILSON 
,  School  Street. 
1856. 

AND 

SON, 

OFFICERS  OF  THE   INSTITUTION 


Supertntcnticnt  anU  ©ijapldin. 
BRADFORD      K.     PEIRCE. 


ffatmtv. 

A 

.    E.    BOYNTON. 
i^atrons. 

Mrs. 

C.  M.  I.  CARPENTER. 

Mrs. 

MARY  M.  WILLARD. 

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3 


GOVERNMENT. 


ce 

■< 

^ 

^Trusters. 

WILDER  S.  THURSTON. 

.     Lancaster. 

? 

WILLIAM  R.  LAWRENCE       . 

.     Boston. 

CM 

LABAN  M.  WHEATON    . 

.     Norton. 

FRANCIS  B.  FAY     .... 

.     Chelsea. 

CHARLES  BUNKER. 

.       ROXBURT. 

JAMES  DEANE 

.     Greenfield 

DANIEL  DENNY       .... 

.     Dorchester 

LABAN      M.     WHEATON. 

Scrretarg. 
WILLIAM   R.  LAWRENCE. 

STrcasurrr, 
FRANCIS    B.    FAY. 

ISjrecutibc  CItommittee. 

FRANCIS  B.  FAY.        |       WM.   R.  LAWRENCE. 
CHARLES  BUNKER. 


397477 


Note. — The  following  account  is  taken  from  the  "Boston  Daily 
Advertiser"  of  Aug.  28,  1856. 


PROCEEDINGS. 


In  accordance  with  previous  appointment,  the  cere- 
monies of  the  inauguration  of  the  State  Industrial 
School  (originally  called  the  State  Reform  School)  for 
Girls,  at  Lancaster,  took  place  on  Wednesday.  The 
weather  was  delightful,  —  it  was  a  magnificent  latter- 
August  day :  there  was  a  clear  sky  and  atmosphere, 
and  a  bright  sun,  without  the  least  uncomfortable 
heat  or  disagreeable  chilliness.  The  fine  old  town  of 
Lancaster  appeared  to  great  advantage  as  seen  by  the 
visitors,  who  were  attracted,  some  of  them  for  the  first 
time,  within  its  borders,  by  their  interest  in  the  pro- 
posed ceremonies.  The  beautiful  interval,  covered 
with  a  luxurious  verdure ;  the  grand  old  trees ;  and 
the  intelligent  and  hospitable  people,  —  created  a 
most  favorable  impression.  And  in  the  crowded 
annals  of  the  town,  which  for  two  centuries  has 
known  many  good  deeds,  we  doubt  if  any  day  will 
present  a  brighter  page  in  the  local  history  than  the 
27th  of  August,  1856. 


A  special  train  over  the  Fitchburg  and  Nashua 
and  Worcester  Railroads,  by  means  of  the  connection 
at  Groton  Junction,  speedily  conveyed  the  party  from 
Boston  to  Lancaster,  leaving  Boston  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  About  one  hundred  and  fifty  gentle- 
men composed  this  party,  including  his  excellency 
the  Governor,  several  members  of  the  Executive 
Council,  heads  of  departments,  the  Sergeant-at-arms, 
the  Sheriff  of  Middlesex,  and  others  representing  the 
State  Government  ;  Moses  Grant,  Esq.,  Sampson 
Reed,  Esq.,  Rev.  Andrew  Bigelow,  and  other  gentle- 
men of  this  city,  distinguished  for  their  interest  in 
schemes  of  practical  benevolence.  At  the  Lancaster 
Station,  the  party  was  informally  welcomed  by  Rev. 
Bradford  K.  Peirce,  Superintendent  and  Chaplain  of 
the  Institution,  and  was  conveyed  in  carriages  to  the 
site  of  the  buildings,  distant  from  the  station  about 
one  mile. 

Before  proceeding  further  in  our  account,  we  may 
as  well  state,  that  it  is  the  design  of  this  Institution 
to  afford  to  exposed  and  helpless  girls  that  protection, 
on  the  part  of  the  State,  which  their  natural  protec- 
tors either  cannot  or  will  not  afford.  Its  subjects 
will  be  taken  between  the  ages  of  seven  and  sixteen, 
on  the  warrant  of  Judges  of  Probate,  after  an  exami- 
nation, at  which  any  person  professing  a  right  of 
control  or  guardianship  over  the  girl  will  be  heard. 
They  will  be  committed  until  they  shall  attain  the 
age  of  sixteen,  and  will  be  detained  in  the  School  so 


iong  as  may  appear  necessary  or  expedient,  and  may 
then  be  placed  in  families.  In  the  cities  and  towns, 
Commissioners  may  be  appointed  by  the  Governor, 
having  the  same  authority  to  send  girls  to  the  School 
as  the  Judges  of  Probate. 

The  examination  of  the  fitness  of  a  girl  for  the 
School  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  criminal  proceed- 
ing:  the  sending  of  the  girl  there  is  not  a  punish- 
ment, nor  is  the  School  in  any  sense  a  prison. 

For  the  better  execution  of  this  design,  it  was 
determined  not  to  erect  any  gigantic  building  for  the 
accommodation  of  a  numerous  crowd  of  inmates,  but 
rather  to  give  the  girls  the  feeling  of  residing  like 
a  family  in  a  home. 

The  Commissioners  who  were  appointed  by  Gover- 
nor Washburn  to  select  a  site,  erect  buildings,  and 
prepare  a  plan  for  the  Institution,  were  Messrs.  John 
H.  Wilkins,  Henry  B.  Rogers,  and  Francis  B.  Fay. 
They  have  nobly  discharged  their  duty,  and  have 
fully  justified  the  wisdom  of  Governor  Washburn 
in  selecting  them,  and  the  generous  confidence  of 
Governor  Gardner  in  retaining  them  to  the  comple- 
tion of  their  task.  After  a  diligent  examination  of 
various  localities,  and  comparison  of  advantages,  they 
selected  the  old  "  Stillwell  Place,"  in  the  town  of 
Lancaster.  Here  they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
able  to  purchase  a  hundred  acres  of  excellent  land, 
with  a  large,  old-fashioned  mansion-house,  built  of 
brick,  two  wooden  dwelling-houses,  with   barns  and 


8 


fixtures,  for  a  sum  a  little  exceeding  ten  thousand 
dollars.  The  two  wooden  houses  are  well  adapted 
for  the  residences  of  the  Superintendent  and  of  the 
Farmer,  respectively.  The  mansion-house  was  en- 
larged and  fitted  for  the  purposes  of  the  School 
at  an  expense  of  about  four  thousand  dollars,  and 
two  new  brick  buildings  were  put  up  at  an  expense 
of  about  twelve  thousand  fi\e  hundred  dollars  each. 
These  sums,  with  some  other  expenses  of  construc- 
tion, were  met  by  the  original  State  appropriation  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  private  subscription 
of  twenty  thousand  three  hundred  dollars.  The  State 
also  appropriated  ^ye  thousand  dollars  for  furnishing 
the  buildings,  and  likewise  bears  the  current  expenses 
of  maintenance. 

The  two  new  buildings,  with  the  mansion-house, 
make  three  separate  "  homes "  for  three  separate 
"  families  "  of  girls,  which  are  designed  to  be  kept 
distinct  in  most  respects,  with  separate  matrons  and 
assistants  residing  in  each  house,  but  united  under 
the  general  care  of  one  superintendent.  The  two 
new  buildings  are  precisely  alike.  They  are  con- 
structed of  brick,  in  the  best  style,  without  ornament, 
and  neatly  and  appropriately  furnished.  The  follow- 
ing general  description  will  give  an  idea  of  their 
appearance  and  internal  arrangement :  Each  of 
them  is  two  stories  in  height,  and  constructed  in 
the  form  of  an  L.  Entering  at  the  front-door,  which 
is   near   the  angle  of  the  L,  on  your  right  is  the 


9 


parlor ;  from  which  opens  the  "  workroom,"  likewise 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  entry ;  next  this  is  a  small 
lighted  room  or  closet;  and  a  schoolroom,  at  the 
end  of  the  entry,  occupies  the  remainder  of  the  L. 
All  the  rooms  appear  small  to  one  who  has  the  idea 
of  a  public  institution  in  his  mind ;  but,  compared 
with  the  private  dwellings  of  persons  in  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, they  are  of  sufficient  size.  The  school- 
room is  fitted  with  desks  for  thirty  scholars.  Opposite 
the  workroom,  on  the  left  of  the  entry,  is  the  laun- 
dry, and  a  large  closet  adjoining. 

Starting  again  at  the  front-door,  at  the  left  hand, 
opposite  the  parlor,  is  the  dining-room ;  from  which 
we  proceed  through  the  other  arm  of  the  L  into 
the  kitchen,  a  large  lighted  pantry  intervening.  In 
this  part  of  the  building  are  likewise  a  bathroom, 
washroom,  and  drying-room.  There  is  a  passage  lead- 
ing from  a  door  in  the  end  of  this  arm  of  the  L  into 
the  main  entry,  between  the  dining-room  and  the 
large  closet  adjoining  the  laundry. 

On  the  second  story,  over  the  parlor,  is  the  ma- 
tron's room;  over  the  workroom  is  the  general 
dormitory,  containing  six  beds  designed  for  twelve 
inmates;  over  the  dining-room  is  a  room  called  the 
"  hospital ; "  and  at  each  end  of  the  L  are  eight  small 
single  bedrooms.  The  attic  is  finished  as  a  safe  and 
commodious  playroom ;  and  there  are  one  or  two 
rooms  in  this  part  of  the  house  which  may  be  used 
as  additional  dormitories,  on  an  emergency. 


10 


All  the  rooms  are  very  thoroughly  ventilated.  The 
houses  are  heated  by  furnaces.  There  is  a  copious 
supply  of  pure  water  carried  to  the  highest  part  of 
the  houses:  it  is  brought  from  an  unfailing  spring, 
about  one  mile  distant,  in  iron  pipes  lined  with 
porcelain.  The  head  has  an  elevation  of  a  hundred 
and  eight  feet  above  the  plateau  on  which  the  houses 
stand ;  and  the  arrangement  is  thus  an  effective  safe- 
guard in  case  of  fire,  as  well  as  a  great  domestic  con- 
venience. There  is  a  fountain,  or  jet,  in  the  centre  of 
the  grounds,  from  which  a  small  stream  was  played 
during  a  portion  of  the  exercises. 

The  furniture  is  neat,  and  not  luxurious.  A  little 
bed,  a  bureau,  a  chair,  a  small  piece  of  carpeting,  a 
diminutive  mirror,  and  a  Bible,  complete  the  appoint- 
ments of  the  single  dormitories.  But  every  thing  is 
nice,  and  all  the  arrangements  are  of  the  most  con- 
venient description.  Each  of  the  three  houses  is 
designed  to  accommodate  thirty  girls.  The  rooms 
of  the  Matron  and  her  Assistant  are  so  arranged  that 
they  can  have  a  general  supervision  over  the  whole 
establishment.  We  neglected  to  obtain  an  exact 
measurement;  but  the  length  of  each  arm  of  the  L 
is  about  seventy-five  feet,  and  the  breadth  about 
thirty.  We  should  mention,  that  the  shape  of  the 
buildings  is  not  perfectly  regular;  but  there  are 
slight  variations,  which  add  to  their  convenience, 
and  give  them  a  better  appearance. 

The  mansion-house  is  three  stories  in  height  (the 


11 


water  is  carried  to  the  highest),  and  differs  somewhat 
in  its  internal  arrangement  from  the  others;  but  it 
has  been  made,  by  new  partitions,  to  conform  sub- 
stantially to  the  general  plan.  The  roof  of  each 
house  commands  a  tine  prospect,  embracing  beautiful 
scenery  far  and  near,  the  summits  of  Wachusett  and 
Monadnock  being  distinctly  visible  in  the  distance. 
Large  trees  abound  in  the  grounds  about  the 
houses. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  name  of  Mr.  Peirce, 
the  Superintendent,  who  resides  with  his  family  in 
one  of  the  wooden  houses.  The  Farmer,  Mr.  A.  E. 
Boynton,  resides  in  another.  The  two  Matrons 
already  appointed  are  Mrs.  C.  M.  S.  Carpenter  and 
Mrs.  Mary  M.  Willard. 

For  a  chapel  for  the  Institution,  a  small  church, 
standing  in  the  village  of  South  Lancaster,  has  been 
purchased,  and  will  be  moved  to  the  grounds.  There 
are  handsome  bookcases  in  the  "  workrooms,"  and 
the  beginning  of  a  library ;  but  we  should  think  the 
donation  of  books  might  be  acceptable. 

There  is  no  paint  in  any  part  of  the  new  build- 
ings. The  wood-work  is  the  chestnut-elm,  finely 
finished,  and  presenting  a  handsome  appearance  un- 
painted.  There  are  commodious  cellars  under  all 
the  buildings.  They  have  been  erected  under  the 
unremitting  superintendence  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Howe, 
and  the  personal  supervision  of  the  Commissioners. 
All  the  work   has  been  done  "  by  the  day ;  "  and 


12 


they  are  fine  specimens  of  thorough  and  unostenta- 
tious workmanship. 

The  time,  after  the  arrival  of  the  train,  was  spent 
by  the  visitors  in  wandering  about  the  grounds,  and 
over  the  houses,  until  one  o'clock,  when  the  com- 
pany, numbering  from  one  to  two  thousand  gentle- 
men and  ladies,  were  collected  in  front  of  the  old 
mansion-house,  on  the  porch  of  which  a  platform 
was  erected.  Part  of  the  company  being  seated, 
while  others  were  standing,  under  the  shade  of  the 
fine  old  trees,  the  ladies  clad  in  their  gay  summer 
attire,  relieved  by  the  duller  hues  of  the  gentlemen's 
masculine  apparel,  the  scene  presented  a  lively  and 
picturesque  appearance.  The  people  of  Lancaster 
appear  to  take  much  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
School,  —  a  circumstance  which  augurs  favorably  for 
its  success ;  and  they  attended  the  ceremonies  in  con- 
siderable numbers.  Music  was  furnished  by  the 
Worcester  Cornet  Band,  supported  by  a  numerous 
vocal  choir  composed  of  the  union  of  the  young 
gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  two  church  choirs  of 
the  town. 

Shortly  after  one  o'clock,  Hon.  John  H.  Wilkins, 
of  this  city,  in  behalf  of  the  Commissioners,  called 
the  assembly  to  order,  and  welcomed  the  company 
to  the  services  and  ceremonies  of  the  Inauguration 
OF  THE  State  Industrial  School  for  Girls. 

Willis's  familiar  Hymn,  "  The  perfect  world,  by 
Adam  trod,"  altered  for  the  occasion,  was  read  by  Rev. 


13 

Franklin  B.  Doe,  of  Lancaster,  and  sung  by  the 
choir.  The  same  clergyman  next  read  some  appro- 
priate selections  from  the  Scriptures  ;  after  which  a 
devout  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  George  M.  Bar- 
TOL,  of  Lancaster. 

Henry  B.  Eogers,  Esq.,  in  behalf  of  the  Com- 
missioners, then  delivered  an  Address,  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Trustees,  Gentlemen,  and  Ladies,  —  We  have  come 
to  perform  a  pleasant  duty.  Under  the  patronage  of  the 
Executive,  and  in  the  presence  of  this  concourse  of  intelligent 
citizens,  we  are  assembled  to  inaugurate  a  new  institution 
for  the  benefit  of  ourselves  and  the  rising  generation.  Thanks 
to  our  Pilgrim  Fathers,  this  is  no  new  or  unaccustomed  duty. 
They  had  scarcely  made  a  lodgment  in  the  wilderness  be- 
fore they  founded  a  college  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in 
knowledge  and  religion ;  and  their  successors  have  faithfully 
followed  in  their  footsteps.  Churches,  colleges,  schools, 
libraries,  observatories,  galleries,  museums,  hospitals,  asy- 
lums, institutions  of  all  sorts  for  the  cultivation,  growth, 
and  diffusion  of  religion,  literature,  science,  and  art,  or 
for  the  cure  and  amelioration  of  the  thousand  ills,  physical 
and  moral,  to  which  humanity  is  subject,  have,  from  time 
to  time,  been  established  and  put  into  successful  operation 
by  the  State,  by  incorporated  bodies,  and  by  private  indivi- 
duals ;  and  they  are  this  day,  as  a  general  thing,  in  a 
flourishing  condition,  and  doing  their  beneficent  work.  Yes, 
my  friends,  the  principles  and  the  spirit  of  our  Puritan 
forefathers  have  made  this  Commonwealth  the  nursing  mo- 
ther of  institutions  designed  for  the  improvement  and 
welfare  of  society.     Massachusetts,  —  time-honored  Massa- 

3 


14 


chusetts,  reviled  and  insulted  Massachusetts, — in  this  hour 
of  darkness,  passion,  and  prejudice,  may  proudly  point  to 
these  her  jewels.  They  are  the  golden  fruits  of  the  tree 
which  her  fathers  planted,  and  which  her  sons  have  not 
ceased  to  water.  True  to  herself,  to  the  constitution,  to 
conscience,  to  law,  and  to  liberty,  she  will  calmly  wait  the 
judgment  of  posterity  upon  her  policy  and  her  acts.  If 
she  fail  not  in  this  crisis  of  public  aflfairs.  Time,  the  great 
vindicator,  will  do  her  justice  at  last.  All  her  sisters,  even, 
shall  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed. 

Every  public  institution  is  an  expression  of  the  position 
and  condition  of  the  community  in  which  it  takes  its  rise ;  and 
perhaps  one  of  the  best  tests  of  progress  in  civilization  is 
the  provision  which  is  made  for  the  welfare  of  the  masses 
of  the  citizens.  For  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of 
what,  in  most  States,  are  called  the  lower  orders,  in  a  great 
degree,  fixes  and  determines  the  limits  to  which  the  body 
politic,  as  a  whole,  can  advance.  Great  and  good  men  may 
abound  in  a  nation  ;  certain  classes  may  advance  rapidly 
in  wealth,  knowledge,  and  culture ;  all  the  arts  and  sciences 
of  life  may  flourish  ;  a  halo  of  glory  and  prosperity  may 
spread  itself  over  the  surface  of  things  :  but  if  the  masses 
of  the  people  be  despised  or  neglected,  if  they  be  suffered 
to  become  or  remain  ignorant,  degraded,  and  corrupt,  no 
real  or  permanent  growth  can  be  maintained.  The  tree  may 
put  forth  a  fair  show  of  leaves  ;  it  may  even  bear  some  fruit : 
but  if  its  roots,  with  their  thousand  delicate  ramifications, 
receive  no  appropriate  nourishment  from  the  soil  in  which 
they  are  fixed,  it  will  inevitably  die  down,  and  at  last  perish 
for  ever.  History,  in  all  its  examples,  teaches  this  sad  lesson. 
And  hence  it  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  our  times, 
and  one  of  the  main  securities  for  the  permanent  conserva- 
tion of  modern  society,  that  more  and  more  attention  is  now 


15 


bestowed  upon  the  condition  of  the  poorer  and  less-favored 
classes  of  the  citizens.  In  England,  especially,  the  thought 
of  the  wisest  and  best-educated  minds  is  engaged  in  devising 
well-digested  schemes  for  its  amelioration  and  improvement. 
Laborious  investigations  into  the  causes  and  condition  of 
poverty  and  crime,  by  Parliament ;  elaborate  discussions  in 
the  great  reviews ;  and  a  host  of  books  and  pamphlets,  the 
product  of  thoughtful  men  and  women,  —  all  bear  testimony 
to  the  interest  and  feeling  of  the  British  public  upon  this  sub- 
ject. In  our  own  country,  public  attention  has  not  been 
drawn  to  poverty  and  crime,  their  causes,  dangers,  and 
remedies,  so  widely  or  deeply  as  in  England ;  for  these  evils 
have  not  pressed  upon  society  here  with  the  same  iron  grip 
as  there.  Still,  we  have  our  model  prisons,  retreats,  and 
houses  of  reformation ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe 
that  the  time  is  not  distant,  when  these  and  kindred  subjects 
will  assume  that  place  in  the  public  thought  which  their 
real  importance  demands.  This  Commonwealth,  some  years 
since,  made  noble  provision  for  the  education  and  moral 
improvement  of  exposed  and  helpless  boys,  in  founding  an 
establishment  at  "Westborough  for  their  benefit ;  and  she  now 
proposes  to  perform  a  similar  service  for  an  equally  wretched 
and  unfortunate  class  of  girls.  The  claims  of  the  latter, 
indeed,  upon  her  regard,  are  even  greater  than  those  of  the 
former ;  for  there  is  something  in  the  unprotected  condition 
of  females  which  appeals  more  directly  to  our  sympathies; 
and,  besides,  in  the  estimation  of  most  reflecting  persons,  the 
influence  which  they  exert  upon  the  moral  welfare  of  society 
is  earlier  put  forth,  wider,  deeper,  and  more  lasting,  than  that 
of  men.  Individuals  who  have  been  distinguished  for  great- 
ness or  moral  worth  have  generally  been  the  children  of 
women  of  noble,  elevated,  and  decided  character  ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  there  is  no  surer  index  of  the  condition  of  any 


16 


community  than  the  character  of  its  females.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  we  feel  assured,  from  any  want  of  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  large  numbers  of  young  girls  among  us,  nor 
from  any  mistrust  of  the  validity  of  their  claims  upon  the 
public  regard,  that  the  Legislature  undertook,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  make  provision  for  boys,  but  rather  from  the 
conviction  that  it  would  be  best  to  provide  for  each  sex 
separately ;  and  that,  inasmuch  as  the  appropriate  treatment 
of  girls  was  generally  looked  upon  as  a  matter  sui  generis, 
and  attended  with  difficulties  of  a  formidable  and  peculiar 
kind,  it  would,  in  the  end,  subserve  their  interests  better  to 
provide  for  boys  first,  and  thus  make  the  experience  acquired 
in  taking  charge  of  them  the  means  of  obtaining  at  last  a 
more  permanent  and  satisfactory  provision  for  girls.  The 
soundness  of  these  views  will  be  generally  admitted ;  and  we 
have  no  doubt  that  the  delay  which  has  arisen  will  be  more 
than  made  up  by  the  result,  provided  this  Institution  be  now 
faithfully  and  carefully  administered.  In  1854,  the  Legisla- 
ture passed  a  resolve,  which  appropriated  the  sum  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  establishment  of  a  Eeform  School  for 
Girls,  upon  condition  that  an  equal  amount  should  be  raised 
by  private  donations ;  and  they  also  authorized  the  Governor 
to  appoint  three  Commissioners  to  propose  a  system  of 
organization  and  government,  prepare  plans  and  estimates, 
and  select  a  site.  The  proposed  subscription  having  been 
speedily  obtained  from  generously  disposed  individuals,  the 
larger  part  of  whom  were  citizens  of  Boston,  the  commission, 
in  whose  behalf  I  now  address  you,  entered  upon  their  labors. 
They  did  so  with  no  little  diffidence,  for  the  service  was 
new,  delicate,  and  difficult ;  but  also  with  a  becoming  spirit 
and  determination,  for  they  regarded  it  as  one  of  much 
importance  to  the  welfare,  not  only  of  the  children  who 
were  to  be  provided  for,  but  of  the  State  itself.     They  are 


n 


here  to-day  to  give  an  account  of  what  they  have  done,  and 
to  surrender  this  spot,  with  the  buildings  which  they  have 
erected,  into  the  hands  of  you,  gentlemen,  who  have  been 
appointed  by  his  excellency  the  Governor  to  take  charge  of 
this  noble  charity,  and  to  make  of  it  all  that  the  public  has  a 
right  to  expect  from  men  selected  by  the  highest  officer  of 
the  State. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  an  argument  to  prove  the 
wisdom  and  urgent  need  of  an  institution  like  this  we  are 
commencing  here ;  for  every  mind,  that  will  give  the  subject 
a  moment's  thought,  must  come  to  the  same  conclusion  in 
respect  to  it.  That  in  all  our  large  towns  there  is  a  consider- 
able class  of  young  girls,  who,  in  consequence  of  the  poverty, 
ignorance,  or  moral  degradation,  of  their  parents  and  natural 
protectors,  or  from  the  melancholy  fact  that  they  have  no  one 
to  care  for  and  protect  them,  are  living  an  idle,  dissolute,  and 
wretched  life,  and  that,  by  their  position  and  condition, 
these  girls  are  sure  to  imbibe  habits,  passions,  and  vices  which 
will  destroy  their  own  happiness  in  life,  and  spread  sin  and 
baneful  influences  through  every  circle  with  which  they 
come  in  contact,  is  well  known  and  self-evident  to  every 
man  who  walks  through  our  streets.  The  law  of  self-pro- 
tection, to  say  nothing  of  the  law  of  Christian  benevolence, 
imperatively  demands  that  some  one,  and,  if  any  one,  the 
State  itself,  most  appropriately,  should  interpose  to  amelio- 
rate, if  not  to  remedy,  this  sad  state  of  things.  And  surely 
the  safest,  the  kindest,  the  least  expensive  remedy,  in  fact,  the 
only  possible  practical  one,  is  to  remove  these  children  from 
the  position  into  which  they  have  fallen,  and  place  them 
where  they  may  receive  the  common  comforts  of  life,  and 
such  discipline  and  training  as  shall  be  likely  to  act  upon 
their  characters  for  good.  The  Reform  School,  therefore,  is 
not  only  a  necessity,  —  it  is  also  a  blessing ;  for  it  takes  the 
custody  of  the  child  before  its  moral  nature  has  become  hard- 


18 


ened,  and  before  it  has  had  much  opportunity  of  corrupting 
others.  If  it  succeeds  in  nothing  else,  it  at  least  interrupts 
its  criminal  education  at  that  critical  time  of  life,  when, 
from  its  pliability,  both  of  body  and  mind,  it  is  likely  to  be 
the  aptest  pupil ;  and,  if  properly  managed,  it  will  do  far 
more  than  this,  as  the  statistics  of  the  best  institutions 
most  abundantly  prove.  The  Commissioners,  then,  could 
have  no  doubts  in  respect  to  the  necessity  or  utility  of  any 
institution  which  should  take  charge  of  exposed  and  helpless 
young  girls  ;  for  any  change  in  the  circumstances  of  children 
situated  as  thousands  are  in  this  Commonwealth  would  be 
for  the  better. 

But  the  real  question  which  addressed  itself  to  them  was, 
"What  sort  of  an  institution,  what  system  of  discipline  and 
training,  will  be  likely  to  effect  the  greatest  amount  of  good  ? 
To  determine  satisfactorily  this  question,  they  have  visited 
various  reformatory  establishments  in  this  and  several  of  the 
other  States  ;  made  written  and  verbal  inquiries  of  many  per- 
sons, distinguished  for  their  knowledge  or  experience,  in 
respect  to  the  condition  and  management  of  unfortunate 
children  ;  and  read  carefully  whatever  of  importance  has  been 
published  upon  the  subject  in  this  country,  England,  and 
France.  The  knowledge  gathered  from  these  several  sources, 
accompanied  by  long  and  patient  consideration  of  the  subject 
in  all  its  various  aspects,  has  gradually  drawn  them  to  the 
conclusion  to  adopt  the  plan  which,  for  the  first  time  in  this 
country,  is  now  commenced  here.  The  arguments  in  its 
favor  are  briefly  the  following :  It  is  theoretically  more  sim- 
ple, natural,  and  just ;  more  nearly  conformable  to  the  position 
and  habits  of  children ;  admits  of  easier  division  and  wider 
classification ;  and,  practically,  it  has,  in  Germany,  France, 
and  England,  proved  itself  to  be  eminently  successful. 
This  plan  is  founded  upon  the  idea  of  a  family,  —  the  oldest, 
the  best,  and  the  most  cherished  institution  enjoyed  by  man. 


19 


It  considers  the  family  as  ordained  by  God,  in  special  refer- 
ence to  its  adaptation  and  fitness  to  the  training  of  young 
children;  and  consequently,  that,  when  a  child  from  any 
cause  is  deprived  of  this  blessing,  the  best  substitute  within 
our  reach  is  one  that,  in  its  arrangements  and  character,  most 
nearly  resembles  it.  It  maintains  that  a  prison  is  not  a  fit 
place  for  a  child  ;  that  its  discipline  is  not  adapted  to  his 
habits  or  position,  and  will  seldom  make  him  better ;  that  he 
is  not  the  subject  of  punishment  as  such,  and  does  not  deserve 
to  be  confined  permanently  ;  that  large  numbers  congregated 
together  in  one  building  necessitate  routine,  prevent  teachers 
from  obtaining  any  real  hold  of  the  individual,  and  foster 
habits  and  feelings  eminently  opposed  to  any  true  moral 
training.  It  declares  that  children,  and  especially  girls,  need, 
most  of  all,  a  home  ;  that  their  organization,  their  disposi- 
tions, their  affections,  their  habits,  their  prospects  and  duties 
in  life,  all  emphatically  require  that  they  should  have  the  re- 
tirement, the  sympathies,  the  occupations,  and  the  discipline, 
of  a  home.  They  should  have  some  one  whom  they  can  at  least 
call  mother  ;  they  should  have  some  place  which  should  look 
at  least  somewhat  like  a  home.  It  would  be  interesting,  and 
might  not  be  wholly  useless,  to  enter  more  fully  into  this 
important  subject,  and  to  show  what  has  been  done  at 
Hamburg,  Berlin,  Mettray,  and  Red  Hill ;  to  describe  the 
principles  of  action  and  the  methods  of  procedure  on  which 
these  celebrated  establishments  are  conducted ;  and  especially 
to  hold  up  to  your  love  and  admiration  the  noble-hearted 
individuals,  whose  efforts  in  behalf  of  unfortunate  children 
have  been  so  disinterested,  and  so  full  of  success.  But  neither 
the  design  nor  the  limitations  of  this  address  permit  such  an 
indulgence.  We  have  time  only  to  refer,  as  we  have  done 
already,  in  a  general  way,  to  the  principles  and  results  which 
led  us  to  adopt  the  plan  of  a  home  in  preference  to  any 
other. 


20 


Having  matured  our  system,  and  recommended  it  to  the 
Legislature  of  the  Commonwealth,  which  sanctioned  it  with 
singular  unanimity,  we  at  once  set  about  to  look  for  a  place 
where  we  might  carry  it  out.  And  I  think  we  may  be 
allowed  to  congratulate  you  and  ourselves  that  we  have  finally 
succeeded  in  obtaining  one  combining  so  many  advantages 
as  this.  It  is  central  in  its  position,  easy  of  access,  and 
sufficiently  retired.  A  plateau  of  level  ground,  of  about 
twenty-two  acres  in  extent,  admirably  fitted  for  the  erection 
of  buildings,  covered  with  verdure  and  shaded  by  trees  and 
shrubs,  looks  down  upon  a  rich  and  lovely  valley,  dotted  all 
over  with  majestic  elms  and  intersected  by  a  quiet  stream 
meandering  through  it.  On  the  rising  ground  beyond,  the 
picturesque  village  of  Lancaster,  backed  by  a  noble  range  of 
hills  and  mountains,  adds  variety  and  dignity  to  the  land- 
scape ;  while  from  its  bosom  rise  conspicuous  the  church  and 
the  schoolhouse,  as  if  to  remind  us  all  of  the  two  chief  agents 
upon  which  we  are  to  rely  in  all  our  efforts  at  reformation. 
A  healthier  or  more  beautiful  home,  certainly,  it  is  not  per- 
mitted to  the  most  fortunate  son  of  Massachusetts  to  know. 
The  soil  is  light,  easy  of  cultivation,  aud  abundantly  supplied 
with  natural  springs.  In  addition,  a  large  artificial  supply 
from  a  never-failing  source,  about  a  mile  ofi",  is  carried  over 
the  buildings,  and  might  be  poured  upon  their  roofs,  the 
head  being  one  hundred  and  eight  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  plain  on  which  we  now  stand.  The  entire  purchase  con- 
tains about  one  hundred  acres  ;  the  lot  being  twelve  hundred 
feet  on  the  main  road  in  front  of  us,  and  running  down  with 
equal  width  to  Stillriver,  in  the  valley  behind  us.  The  cost 
of  the  land  was  ten  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars,  including  one  brick  and  two  wooden  dwelling-houses, 
with  their  appurtenances ;  the  former  erected  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago,  and  bearing  in  all  its  parts  the  marks 
of  solidity  and  past  magnificence.     The  wooden  houses  we 


21 


found  admirably  well  adapted,  both  in  position  and  design, 
to  our  objects.  We  have  consequently  prepared  one  of  them 
for  our  Superintendent,  and  the  other  for  our  Farmer,  at  no 
further  expense  than  a  little  paper  and  paint.  The  brick 
dwelling-house,  w^e  soon  ascertained,  would  answer  for  the 
residence  of  children  ;  and  we  have  therefore  made  such 
alterations  in  its  internal  structure  as  would  adapt  it  to  the 
general  plans  we  had  adopted,  —  the  principal  interior  walls 
and  divisions  remaining  as  they  were.  As  now  altered,  it  is 
considered  to  be  as  substantial  and  convenient  a  building  as 
any  we  could  contrive.  We  have  also  erected  two  new  brick 
edifices,  in  which  we  have  attempted  to  make  all  the  arrange- 
ments and  conveniences  for  children  which  would  promote 
the  great  purpose  we  have  in  view.  Each  of  these  dwelling- 
houses  is  intended  to  accommodate  thirty  girls,  with  their 
matron  and  assistant ;  and  each  contains  a  parlor,  dining-room, 
kitchen,  laundry,  schoolroom,  and  workroom,  on  the  first 
floor ;  a  hospital,  a  dormitory,  two  chambers  for  the  matron 
and  assistant  and  sixteen  for  girls,  on  the  second ;  and  a 
playroom  and  two  chambers  in  the  attic.  Each,  also,  is 
fitted  up  with  bathing-rooms,  water-closets,  sinks,  and  other 
conveniences ;  is  thoroughly  ventilated ;  and  is  heated  by  a 
furnace  in  the  cellar.  All  the  work  has  been  done  by  the 
day,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  faithfully  executed.  Our 
object  has  been  to  erect  buildings  as  nearly  resembling  a  sub- 
stantial and  good-sized  dwelling-house  as  possible ;  and  all 
our  arrangements  have  been  made  with  a  view  of  carrying  out 
this  idea.  In  each  of  these  buildings  is  to  be  gathered  a 
household,  —  a  matron  and  assistant  and  thirty  children  of 
different  ages,  from  seven  to  sixteen.  They  are  to  constitute 
one  family,  to  be  employed  in  the  various  occupations  and 
duties  of  a  family,  and  to  receive  and  reciprocate  the  affec- 
tionate love,  the  careful  discipline,  and  the  wholesome 
instructions,  that  the   members   of   a  family  should  always 


22 


receive  and  reciprocate.  Each  family  is  to  be  by  itself,  to 
have  peculiar  and  special  relations  to  its  head,  and  to  be  no 
further  connected  with  any  of  its  neighbors,  and  maintain 
no  more  intimate  intercourse  with  them,  than  shall  be  thought 
wise  and  best  by  the  Superintendent,  or  than  is  seen  to  exist 
in  common  life  between  families  that  reside  near  each  other. 
We  have  erected  no  division  fences,  and  provided  no  iron  or 
other  guards,  for  restraint  or  coercion :  for  we  desired,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  present  no  features  to  the  inmates  here 
which  were  not  usual  in  a  dwelling-house ;  and  we  preferred 
that  experience  alone  should  suggest  to  the  Trustees  what 
provision,  if  any,  in  these  respects,  was  essential.  Moral 
power,  such  as  is  possessed  by  a  large  moral  nature,  deeply 
versed  in  the  habits  and  dispositions  of  children,  and  endowed 
with  sound  judgment  and  discrimination,  is  the  great  instru- 
ment by  which  the  welfare  and  success  of  this  Institution  are 
to  be  obtained ;  and  we  have  thought  it  would  be  well  that 
the  several  instructors  should  understand  at  once  that  they 
must  rely  upon  it.  If  they  possess  it,  they  will  doubtless 
have  full  opportunity  for  its  exercise ;  and  we  hope  and  pray 
that  the  limited  number  of  children  that  will  be  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  each,  combined  with  the  more  natural  and 
intimate  relations  established  here,  and  the  large  oppor- 
tunities for  the  exercise  of  direct,  personal  influence,  will 
enable  them  to  efiect  more  desirable  results  than  can  be 
efiected  under  any  system  of  routine  and  restraint.  But  it 
is  well  to  remember,  always,  that  an  able  and  accomplished 
teacher  is  better  than  any  system  whatever;  and  that  no 
system,  be  it  ever  so  well  adapted  to  the  objects  sought  to 
be  accomplished,  will  work  well  under  an  ignorant  or  weak 
one. 

And  here  we  hope  to  be  pardoned  if  we  make  a  single 
suggestion,  for  it  is  one  of  great  importance  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  welfare  of  schools  of  reform  ;  and  upon  the  degree 


23 


of  attention  paid  to  it  has  undoubtedly  depended,  as  much 
as  upon  any  thing  else,  their  success  or  failure.  It  relates  to 
the  general  idea  which  shall  be  entertained  of  the  character 
and  propensities  of  the  children  who  are  to  be  the  inmates  of 
this  institution.  Now,  we  hope  the  teachers  here  will  run 
into  no  extreme  views  upon  this  subject.  We  trust  they  will 
not  consider  the  children  under  their  charge,  on  the  one 
hand,  as  reprobates,  steeped  in  guilt  beyond  all  others,  the 
incarnation  of  the  very  spirit  of  evil ;  nor,  on  the  other,  as 
the  mere  victims  of  injustice  and  misfortune,  or  as  largely 
endowed  with  that  poetic  temperament,  or  those  delicate  and 
nicely  adjusted  moral  sensibilities,  which  are  attributed  to 
them  in  so  many  of  the  novels  of  the  day.  These  children, 
depend  upon  it,  are  neither  devils  nor  angels,  but  human 
beings  with  flesh  and  blood  like  ourselves  ;  ay,  and  with  the 
same  intellectual  and  moral  natures  ;  subject  to  the  like 
passions,  follies,  and  temptations,  and  capable  of  the  same  self- 
control,  education,  and  improvement.  And  we  are  to  treat 
them  as  human  beings,  and  to  expect  the  same  results  from 
fidelity,  care,  and  faith,  making  due  allowance  for  differences 
in  previous  circumstances,  and  the  same  consequences  from 
ignorance,  carelessness,  over-indulgence,  undue  severity,  and 
mismanagement,  that  we  experience  in  common  cases.  Let 
us  remember,  too,  that  children  are  not  mere  machines  ;  that 
we  cannot  make  them  what  we  desire  by  any  contrivance  of 
ours ;  that  they  have  a  will  of  their  own,  given  to  them  by 
God  as  the  great  sign-manual  of  their  humanity,  which  may, 
and  has  a  natural  right  to,  resist  and  withstand  all  our  endea- 
vors ;  and,  therefore,  that  it  is  essential  that  this  will  should 
be  brought  into  relation  with,  and  subjection  to,  the  will  and 
laws  of  God.  Unless  a  child  has  a  consciousness,  in  his 
inmost  soul,  of  obligation  and  responsibility  to  something 
higher  and  better  than  himself,  to  the  God  who  made  him, 
depend  upon  it,  you  have  done  nothing  for  his  reformation. 


24 


How  this  is  to  be  brought  about,  by  what  training  the  moral 
nature  is  to  be  developed  and  matured,  is  not  for  me  to 
say.  I  only  declare  that  it  must  be  done,  or  nothing  is 
done. 

And  now.  Gentlemen  Trustees,  having  finished  the  work 
given  us  to  do,  we  willingly  surrender  it  into  your  hands. 
We  have  been  permitted  only  to  bring  together  the  outside 
framework  of  an  institution :  it  will  be  your  privilege  to 
perfect  its  parts,  and  make  them  instinct  with  life.  It  has 
been  our  duty  to  select  a  site,  to  provide  buildings,  and  devise 
a  system  of  organization  :  it  will  be  yours  to  make  of  them  a 
noble  charity,  that  shall  be  an  honor  to  this  Commonwealth, 
and  a  blessing  to  hundreds  of  her  unfortunate  children. 
This  may  be  a  difficult,  but  it  is  an  honorable,  task.  Great 
wisdom,  experience,  patience,  and  fidelity,  undoubtedly,  will 
be  required  to  perform  it  well.  It  is  not  for  us  to  speak  to 
you  in  reference  to  the  motives  or  the  principles  which 
should  govern  your  conduct  in  managing  this  establishment. 
You  have,  very  properly,  selected  one  to  address  you  on  this 
occasion,  who,  from  his  position  and  known  ability,  is  far 
better  fitted  than  we  are  to  give  you  words  of  instruction  and 
encouragement.  We  only  desire  to  assure  you  of  our  entire 
confidence  in  your  zeal  and  ability  in  this  good  cause,  and  to 
profier  to  you,  in  all  sincerity,  our  hearty  wishes  and  prayers 
for  your  guidance  and  success. 


After  a  hymn  sung  by  the  choirs  of  the  two 
churches  of  Lancaster,  and  music  by  the  band,  the 
Hon.  George  S.  Boutwell  delivered  the  following 
address :  — 


25 


ADDRESS   BY  GEORGE   S.  BOUTWELL. 

In  man's  limited  view,  the  moral  world  presents  a  sad 
contrast  to  the  natural.  The  natural  world  is  harmonious  in 
all  its  parts ;  but  the  moral  world  is  the  theatre  of  disturbing 
and  conflicting  forces,  whose  laws  the  finite  mind  cannot 
comprehend.  The  majesty  and  uniformity  of  the  planetary 
revolutions,  which  bring  day  and  night,  summer  and  winter, 
seed-time  and  harvest,  know  no  change.  Worlds  and  sys- 
tems of  worlds  are  guided  by  a  law  of  the  Infinite  Mind ; 
and  so,  through  unnumbered  years  and  myriads  of  years, 
birth  and  death,  creation  and  decay,  decrees  whose  fixedness 
enables  finite  minds  to  predict  the  future,  and  rules  whose 
elasticity  is  seen  in  a  never-ending  variety  of  nature,  all  alike 
prove  that  the  sin  of  disobedience  is  upon  man  alone. 

But  if  man  only,  of  all  the  varied  creations  of  earth,  may 
fall  from  his  high  estate,  so  to  him  only  is  given  the  power 
to  rise  again,  and  feebly,  yet  with  faith,  advance  towards  the 
Divine  Excellence.  This,  then,  is  the  great  thought  of 
the  occasion,  to  be  accepted  by  the  hearts  and  illustrated 
in  the  lives  of  all.  The  fallen  may  be  raised  up,  the  exposed 
may  be  shielded,  the  wanderers  may  be  called  home,  or  else 
this  house  is  built  upon  the  sand,  and  doomed  to  fall  when 
the  rains  shall  descend,  the  floods  come,  and  the  winds  blow. 
The  returning  autumn,  with  its  harvest  of  sustenance  and 
wealth,  bids  us  contemplate  again  the  mystery  and  harmony 
of  the  natural  world.  The  tree  and  the  herb  produce  seed, 
and  the  seed  again  produces  the  tree  and  the  herb,  each  after 
its  kind.  There  is  a  continued  production  and  reproduction, 
but  of  responsibility  there  is  none.  As  there  is  no  intelli- 
gent violation  of  law,  there  is  no  accountability.  Man, 
however,  is  an  intelligent,  dependent,  fallible,  and,  of  course, 


26 


responsible  being.  He  is  responsible  for  himself,  respon- 
sible in  some  degree  for  his  fellow-man.  There  is  not  a 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  nor  a  day  of  its 
experience,  which  does  not  show  that  the  individual  mem- 
bers are  dependent  upon,  and  responsible  to,  each  other. 
This  great  fact,  of  six  thousand  years'  duration,  at  once 
presents  to  us  the  necessity  for  government,  and  defines  the 
limits  of  its  powers  and  duties.  Government,  then,  is  a 
union  of  all  for  the  protection  and  welfare  of  each.  This 
definition  presents  in  its  principles  and  statement,  the 
highest  form  of  human  government,  —  a  form  not  yet  per- 
fectly realized  on  earth.  It  sets  forth  rather  what  govern- 
ment ought  to  be,  than  what  it  has  been  or  is.  Too  often 
historical  governments,  and  living  governments  even,  may 
be  defined  as  a  union  of  all  for  the  oppression  of  many  and 
the  benefit  of  a  few.  The  reason  of  men  has  not  often  been 
consulted  in  their  formation ;  and  the  interests  and  principles 
of  the  masses  have  usually  been  disregarded  in  their  adminis- 
tration. 

A  true  government  is  at  once  representative,  patriarchal, 
and  paternal.  In  the  path  of  duty  for  this  day  and  this 
occasion,  we  shall  consider  the  last-named  quality  only,  — 
governments  should  be  paternal.  The  paternal  government 
is  devoted  to  the  elevation  and  improvement  of  its  members, 
with  no  ulterior  motive  except  the  necessary  results  of  in- 
ternal purity  and  strength.  Every  government  is  in  some 
degree,  no  doubt,  paternal.  Nor  are  those  governments  to 
be  regarded  as  eminently  so,  where  the  people  are  most  con- 
trolled in  their  private,  personal  affairs.  These  are  mere 
despotisms ;  and  despotism  is  not  a  just  nor  necessary  ele- 
ment of  the  paternal  relation.  That  government  is  most 
truly  paternal  which  does  most  to  enable  its  citizens  or 
subjects  to  regulate  their  own  conduct  and  determine  their 
relations  to  others.     In  the  midst  of  general  darkness,  the 


27 


paternal  element  of  government  has  been  a  light  to  the  hu- 
man race.  It  modified  the  patriarchal  slavery  of  the  Hebrews, 
relieved  the  iron  rule  of  Sparta,  made  European  feudalism 
the  hope  of  civilization  in  the  Dark  Ages,  and  the  basis  of  its 
coming  glories  in  the  near  future ;  and  it  now  leads  men  to 
look  with  toleration  upon  the  despotism  of  Eussia,  and  with 
kindness  upon  the  simplicity  and  arrogance  of  the  Celestial 
Empire. 

We  complain,  justly  enough,  that  the  world  is  governed 
too  much ;  and  yet,  in  a  great  degree,  we  neglect  the  means 
by  which  the  proper  relations  of  society  could  be  preserved, 
and  the  world  be  governed  less.  In  what  works  are  the  so- 
called  Christian  governments  principally  engaged?  Are 
they  not  seeking,  by  artifice,  diplomacy,  and  war,  to  extend 
national  boundaries,  preserve  national  honor,  or  enforce  nice 
distinctions  against  the  timid  and  weak  ?  Yet  it  is  plain  that 
a  nation  is  powerful  according  to  the  character  of  the  living 
elements  of  which  it  is  composed.  If  it  is  disorganized 
morally,  uncultivated  in  intellect,  ignorant,  indolent,  or 
wasteful  in  its  labor,  its  claims  to  greatness  are  destitute 
of  solid  foundation,  and  it  must  finally  yield  to  those  that 
have  sought  and  gained  power  by  the  elevation  of  the 
individual  as  the  element  of  the  nation. 

That  nation,  then,  is  wise,  and  destined  to  become  truly 
great,  which  cultivates  the  best  elements  of  individual  life 
and  character.  It  is  not  enough  to  read  the  parable  of  the 
lost  sheep  and  of  the  ninety  and  nine  that  went  not  astray, 
and  then  say,  "  Even  so,  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish," 
while  the  means  of  salvation,  as  regards  the  life  of  this  world 
merely,  are  very  generally  neglected.  Such  neglect  is  fol- 
lowed by  error  and  crime  ;  and  error  and  crime  are  followed 
by  judgment  not  always  tempered  with  mercy. 

While  human  governments  debate  questions  of  war  and 


28 


peace,  of  trade  and  revenue,  of  annexations  with  ceremony, 
and  appropriations  of  territory  without  ceremony,  who  shall 
answer  to  the  Governor  and  Judge  of  all  for  the  neglect, 
indifference,  and  oppression  which  beget  and  foster  the 
delinquencies  of  childhood,  and  harden  the  criminals  of  adult 
life? 

And  who  shall  answer  for  those  distinctions  of  caste  and 
systems  of  labor  which  so  degrade  and  famish  masses  of 
human  beings,  that  the  divine  miracle  of  the  feeding  of  the 
five  thousand  must  be  multiplied  many  times  over  before 
the  truths  of  nature  or  revelation  can  be  received  into  teach- 
able minds  or  susceptible  hearts  ?  And  who  shall  answer  for 
the  hereditary  poverty,  ignorance,  and  crime  which  consti- 
tute a  marked  feature  of  English  life,  and  are  distinctly 
visible  upon  the  face  of  American  civilization  ?  These  ques- 
tions may  point  with  sufficient  distinctness  to  the  sources  of 
the  evils  enumerated ;  but  we  are  not  to  assume  that  mere 
human  governments  can  furnish  an  adequate  and  complete 
remedy.  Yet  this  admitted  inability  to  do  every  thing  is  no 
excuse  for  neglecting  those  things  which  are  plainly  within 
their  power.  Taking  upon  themselves  the  parental  character, 
forgetting  that  they  have  wrongs  to  avenge,  and  seeking 
reformation  through  kindness,  criminals  and  the  causes  of 
crime  will  diminish,  if  they  do  not  disappear.  This  is  the 
responsibility  of  the  nations,  and  the  claim  now  made  upon 
them.  Individual  civilization  and  refinement  have  always 
been  in  advance  of  national ;  and  national  character  is  the 
mirrored  image  of  the  individual  characters,  not  excepting 
the  humblest,  of  which  the  nation  is  composed.  Each  foot 
of  the  ocean's  surface  has,  in  its  fluidity  or  density  or  posi- 
tion, something  of  the  quality  or  power  of  every  drop  of 
water  which  rests  or  moves  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  What 
is  called  national  character  is  the  face  of  the  great  society 
beneath  ;  and,  as  that  society  in  its  elements  is  elevated .  or 


29 


debased,  so  will  the  national  character  rise  or  fall  in  the 
estimation  of  all  just  men  of  the  living,  and  upon  the  page 
of  impartial  history.  Government,  which  is  the  organized 
expression  of  the  will  of  society,  ought  always  to  represent 
the  best  elements  of  which  society  is  composed ;  and  it 
ought,  therefore,  to  combat  error  and  wrong,  and  seek  to 
inaugurate  labor,  justice,  and  truth,  as  the  elements  of  sta- 
bility,, growth,  and  power.  It  must  accept  as  its  principles 
of  action  the  best  rules  of  conduct  in  individuals.  The  man 
who  avenges  his  personal  wrongs  by  personal  attacks  or 
vindictive  retaliation,  must  sacrifice  in  some  measure  the 
sympathy  of  the  wise,  the  humane,  and  the  good.  So 
the  nation  which  avenges  real  or  fancied  wrongs  crushes 
out  the  elements  of  humanity  and  a  higher  life,  which,  pro- 
perly cultivated,  might  lead  an  erring  mortal  to  virtue  and 
peace.  The  proper  object  of  punishment  is  not  vengeance, 
but  the  public  safety  and  the  reformation  of  the  criminal. 
Indeed,  we  may  say  that  the  sole  object  of  punishment  is  the 
reformation  of  the  criminal;  for  there  can  be  no  safety  to 
the  public  while  the  criminal  is  unreformed.  The  punish- 
ment of  the  prison  must  from  its  nature  be  temporary :  per- 
petual confinement  can  be  meted  out  to  a  few  great  crimes 
only.  If,  then,  the  result  of  punishment  be  vengeance,  and 
not  reformation,  the  last  state  of  society  is  worse  than  its 
first.  The  prison  must  stand  a  sad  monument  of  the  want 
of  true  paternal  government  in  the  family  and  the  State  ;  but 
when  it  becomes  the  receptacle  merely  of  the  criminal,  and 
all  ideas  of  reformation  are  banished  from  the  hearts  of  con- 
victs and  the  minds  of  keepers,  its  influence  is  evil,  and  only 
evil  continually. 

Vice,  driven  from  the  presence  of  virtue,  with  no  hope  of 
reformation  or  of  restoration  to  society,  begets  vice,  and 
becomes  daily  more  and  more  loathsome.  Misery  is  so  uni- 
versal that  some  share  falls  to  the  lot  of  all ;  but  that  misery 


30 


whose  depths  cannot  be  sounded,  whose  heights  cannot  be 
scaled,  is  the  fortune  of  the  prison-convict  only,  who  has  no 
hope  of  reformation  to  virtue  or  of  restoration  to  the  world. 
His  is  the  only  misery  that  is  unrelieved  ;  his  is  the  only 
burden  that  is  too  great  to  be  borne.  To  him  the  foliage  of 
the  tree,  the  murmur  of  the  brook,  the  mirror  of  the  quiet 
lake,  or  the  thunder  of  the  heaving  ocean,  would  be  equally 
acceptable.  His  separation  from  nature  is  no  less  burden- 
some than  his  separation  from  man.  The  heart  sinks,  the 
spirit  turns  with  a  consuming  fire  upon  itself,  the  soul  is  in 
despair ;  the  mind  is  first  nerved  and  desperate,  then  wander- 
ing and  savage,  then  idiotic,  and  finally  goes  out  in  death. 
Governments  cannot  often  afford  to  protect  themselves,  or  to 
avenge  themselves,  at  such  a  cost.  There  may  be  great 
crimes  on  which  such  awful  penalties  should  be  visited  ;  but, 
for  the  honor  of  the  race,  let  them  be  few. 

We  may  err  in  our  ideas  of  the  true  relations  of  the  prison 
to  the  prisoner.  We  call  a  prison  good  or  bad  when  we  see 
its  walls,  cells,  workshops,  its  means  of  security,  and  points 
of  observation.  These  are  very  well.  They  are  something  ; 
but  they  are  not  all.  We  might  so  judge  a  hospital  for  the 
sick ;  and  we  did  once  so  judge  an  asylum  for  the  insane. 

But  what  to  the  sick  man  are  walls  of  wood,  brick,  granite, 
or  marble  ?  What  are  towers  and  turrets,  what  are  wards, 
halls,  and  verandas,  if  withal  he  is  not  cheered  and  sustained 
by  the  sympathizing  heart  and  helping  hand  ?  And  similar 
preparations  furnish  for  the  insane  personal  security  and 
physical  comfort ;  but  can  they  — 

"  Minister  to  a  mind  diseased ; 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow; 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain  ?  " 

And  it  may  be  that  the  old  almshouse  at  Philadelphia,  which 
was  nearly  destitute  of  material  aids,  and  had  only  superin- 


31 


tendent,  matrons,  and  assistants,  was,  ail  in  all,  the  best  insane 
asylum  in  America. 

We  cannot  neglect  the  claims  of  security,  discipline,  and 
labor,  in  the  erection  of  jails  and  prisons ;  but  to  acknow- 
lege  these  merely  will  never  produce  the  proper  fruit  of 
punishment, — reformation.  Indeed,  walls  of  stone,  gates 
of  iron,  bolts,  locks,  and  armed  sentinels,  though  essential  to 
security,  without  which  there  could  be  neither  punishment 
nor  reformation,  are  in  themselves  barriers  rather  than  helps 
to  moral  progress.  Standing  outside,  we  cannot  say  what 
should  be  done  either  in  the  insane  hospital  or  the  prison ; 
but  we  can  deduce  from  the  experience  of  modern  times  a 
safe  rule  for  general  conduct.  In  the  insane  hospital,  the 
patient  is  to  be  treated  as  though  he  were  sane ;  and,  in 
the  jail,  the  prisoner  is  to  be  treated,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  as 
though  he  were  virtuous.  This  rule,  especially  as  much  of 
it  as  applies  to  the  prisoner,  may  be  recklessness  to  some, 
to  others  folly,  to  others  sin. 

"  The  court  awards  it,  and  the  law  doth  give  it,"  is  no 
doubt  the  essence  and  strength  of  governmental  justice  in  the 
sentence  decreed ;  but  it  would  be  a  sad  calamity  if  there 
were  no  escape  from  its  literal  fulfilment.  And  let  no  one 
borrow  the  words  of  Portia  to  the  Jew,  and  say  to  the 
State, — 

"  Nor  cut  thou  less  nor  more, 
But  just  a  pound  of  flesh." 

As  the  criminal  staggers  beneath  the  accumulated  weight 
of  his  sin  and  its  penalty,  he  should  feel  that  the  State  is 
not  only  just  in  the  language  of  its  law,  but  merciful  in  its 
administration  ;  that  the  government  is,  in  truth,  paternal. 
This  feeling  inspires  confidence  and  hope  ;  and  without  these 
there  can  be  no  reformation.  And,  following  this  thought, 
we  are  led  to  say,  it  is  a  sad  and  mischievous  public  delusion 
that  the  pardoning  power  is  useless  or  pernicious.     It  is  a 


32 


delusion  ;  for  it  is  the  only  means  by  which  the  State  mingles 
mercy  with  its  justice,  —  the  means  by  which  the  better  senti- 
ments of  the  prison  are  marshalled  in  favor  of  order,  of  law, 
of  progress.  It  is  a  public  delusion :  for  it  has  infected  not 
only  the  masses  of  society,  who  know  little  of  what  is  going 
on  in  courts  and  prisons,  but  its  influence  is  observed  upon 
the  bench  and  in  the  bar,  especially  among  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  prosecute  and  try  criminals.  This  is  not 
strange,  nor  shall  it  be  a  subject  of  complaint :  but  we  must 
not  always  look  upon  the  prisoner  as  a  criminal,  and  con- 
tinually disregard  his  claims  as  a  man.  It  is  not  often  easy, 
nor  always  possible,  to  make  the  proper  distinction  between 
the  character  and  condition  of  the  prisoner.  But  the  prison, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  follows  the  general  law  of  life.  It 
has  its  public  sentiment,  its  classes,  its  leading  minds,  as  well 
as  the  university  or  the  State  ;  it  has  its  men  of  mark, 
either  good  or  bad,  as  well  as  congress  or  parliament.  As 
the  family,  the  church,  or  the  school,  is  the  reflection  of  the 
best  face  of  society,  so  the  prison  is  the  reflection  of 
the  worst  face  of  society.  But  it  nevertheless  is  society, 
and  follows  its  laws  with  as  much  fidelity  as  the  world 
at  large. 

It  is  said  that  Abbe  Fissiaux,  the  head  of  the  colony  of 
Marseilles,  when  visiting  Mettray,  a  kind  of  reform  school 
at  which  boys  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  have  com- 
mitted off'ences  without  discernment,  are  sent,  asked  the 
colonists  to  point  out  to  him  the  three  best  boys.  The  looks 
of  the  whole  body  immediately  designated  three  young  per- 
sons whose  conduct  had  been  irreproachable  to  an  exceptional 
degree.  He  then  applied  a  more  delicate  test.  "  Point  out 
to  me,"  said  he,  "the  worst  boy."  All  the  children  re- 
mained motionless,  and  made  no  sign ;  but  one  little  urchin 
came  forward  with  a  pitiful  air,  and  said,  in  a  very  low  tone, 
"It  is  me."     Such  were  the  public  sentiment  and  sense  of 


33 

honor  even  in  a  reform  school.  This  frankness  in  the  lad 
was  followed  by  reformation ;  and  he  became  in  after-years  a 
good  soldier^  —  the  life  anticipated  for  many  members  of  the 
institution. 

The  pardoning  power  is  not  needed  in  reform  and  indus- 
trial schools,  where  the  managers  have  discretionary  authority  ; 
but  it  is  quite  essential  to  the  discipline  of  the  prison  to  let  the 
light  of  hope  into  the  prisoner's  heart.  Not  that  all  are  to 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  executive  clemency,  —  by  no  means  : 
only  the  most  worthy  and  promising  are  to  be  thus  favored. 
But,  for  many  years,  the  Massachusetts  Prison  has  been  im- 
proved and  elevated  in  its  tone  and  sentiment  above  what  it 
would  have  been  ;  while,  as  it  is  believed,  over  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  convicts  thus  discharged  have  conducted  them- 
selves well.  If  the  prisoner's  conduct  has  not  been,  upon 
the  whole,  reasonably  good,  and  for  a  long  time  irreproach- 
able, he  has  no  chance  for  clemency  ;  and  whatever  may  be 
his  conduct,  and  whatever  may  be  the  hopes  inspired,  he 
should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  without  the  prison  walls  until 
a  friend,  labor,  and  a  home,  are  secured  for  him.  And  the 
exercise  of  the  pardoning  power,  if  it  anticipate  the  expira- 
tion of  the  legal  sentence  but  a  month,  a  week,  or  a  day 
even,  may  change  the  whole  subsequent  life.  Men,  crimi- 
nals, convicts,  are  not  insensible  to  kindness;  and  when  the 
government  shortens  the  legal  sentence,  which  is  usually 
their  measure  of  justice  in  the  case,  they  feel  an  additional 
obligation  to  so  behave  as  to  bring  no  discredit  upon  a  power 
which  has  been  a  source  of  inestimable  joy  to  them.  And 
prisoners  thus  discharged  have  often  gone  forth  with  a  feel- 
ing that  the  hopes  of  many  whom  they  had  left  behind  were 
centred  in  them. 

Mr.  Charles  Forster,  of  Charlestown,  says  in  a  letter  to  me, 
"  I  have  been  connected  with  the  Massachusetts  State  Prison 
for  a  period  of  thirty-eight  years,  and  have  always  felt  a  strong 


34 


interest  in  the  improvement,  welfare,  and  happiness  of  the 
unfortunate  men  confined  within  its  walls.  I  am  conversant 
with  many  touching  cases  of  deep  and  heartfelt  gratitude 
for  kindly  acts  and  sympathy  bestowed  upon  them,  both 
during  and  subsequent  to  their  imprisonment."  And  the 
same  gentleman  says  further,  "  I  think  that  the  proportion  of 
persons  discharged  from  prison  by  executive  clemency,  who 
have  subsequently  been  convicted  of  penal  offences,  is  very 
small  indeed."  To  some,  whose  imaginations  have  pictured 
a  broad  waste  or  deep  gulf  between  themselves  and  the 
prisoner  class,  these  may  seem  strange  words  ;  but  there  is 
no  mystery  in  this  language  to  those  who  have  listened  to 
individual  cases  of  crime  and  punishment.  Men  are  tried  and 
convicted  of  crimes  according  to  rules  and  definitions  which 
are  necessarily  arbitrary  and  technical ;  but  the  moral  cha- 
racter of  criminals  is  not  very  well  defined  by  the  rules  and 
definitions  which  have  been  applied  to  their  respective  cases. 
Our  prisons  contain  men.  who  are  great  and  professional 
criminals,  —  men  who  advisedly  follow  a  life  of  crime  them- 
selves, and  deliberately  educate  generation  after  genera- 
tion to  a  career  of  infamy  and  vice.  As  a  general  thing, 
mercy  to  such  men  would  be  unpardonable  folly.  Of  them 
I  do  not  now  speak.  But  there  is  another  class,  who  are 
involved  in  guilt  and  its  punishment  through  the  defects  of 
early  education,  the  misfortune  of  orphanage,  accident,  sud- 
den temptation,  or  the  influence  of  evil  companionship  in 
youth. 

The  field  from  which  this  class  is  gathered  is  an  extensive 
one,  and  its  outer  limits  are  near  to  every  hearthstone.  To 
all  these,  prison  life,  unless  it  is  relieved  by  a  hope  of 
restoration  to  the  world  at  the  hand  of  mercy,  is  the  school 
of  vice,  and  a  certain  preparation  for  a  career  of  crime.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  class  does  furnish  recruits  to  supply  the 
places  of  the  hardened  villains  who  annually  die,  or  perma- 


35 


nently  forsake  the  abodes  of  civilized  men.  What  hope  can 
there  be  for  a  young  man  who  remains  in  prison  until  the 
last  day  of  his  sentence  is  measured  by  the  sun  in  his  course, 
and  then  passes  into  the  world,  with  the  mark  of  disgrace  and 
the  mantle  of  shame  upon  him,  to  the  society  of  the  com- 
panions by  whose  influence  he  first  fell  ?  For  such  a  one 
there  can  be  no  hope.  And  be  it  always  remembered, 
that  there  are  those  without  the  prison  walls,  as  well  as  many 
within,  who  resist  every  effort  to  bring  the  wanderers  back 
to  obedience  and  right.  I  was  present  at  the  prison  in 
Charlestown  when  the  model  of  a  bank-lock  was  taken  from 
a  young  man  whose  term  had  nearly  expired.  The  model 
was  cut  in  wood,  after  a  plan  drawn  upon  sand-paper  by  an 
experienced  criminal,  then  recently  convicted.  This  old 
offender  was  so  familiar  with  the  lock,  that  he  was  able  to 
reproduce  all  its  parts  from  memory  alone.  This  fact  shows 
the  influence  that  may  be  exerted,  even  in  prison,  upon  the 
characters  of  the  young  and  less  vicious.  Now,  can  any 
doubt  that  these  classes,  as  classes,  ought  to  be  separated  ? 
Nor  let  the  question  be  met  by  the  old  statement,  that  all 
communication  between  prisoners  should  be  cut  off.  Hu- 
manity cannot  defend,  as  a  permanent  system,  the  plan  which 
shuts  up  the  criminal,  unless  he  is  a  murderer,  from  the 
light  of  the  human  countenance.  Such  penalties  foster 
crimes,  whose  roots  take  hold  of  the  State  itself. 

The  result  of  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power  is 
believed  to  have  been,  upon  the  whole,  satisfactory.  This 
is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  officers  and  others  whose 
opinions  are  entitled  to  weight.  Permit  the  statement  of  a 
single  case,  to  which  many  similar  ones  might  be  added. 
In  a  remote  State  of  the  West  there  is  a  respectable  and 
successful  farmer  who  was  once  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary 
for  life.  His  crime  was  committed  in  a  moment  of  despera- 
tion, produced    by  the   contrast    between  a  state   of   abject 


36 


poverty  in  a  strange  land  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and 
the  recollection  of  childhood  and  youth  passed  beneath  the 
parental  roof,  surrounded  by  the  comforts  and  conve- 
niences of  the  well-educated  and  well-conditioned  classes 
of  English  society.  This,  it  is  true,  was  a  peculiar  case. 
It  was  marked  in  the  circumstances  and  enormity  of  the 
crime,  and  marked  in  the  subsequent  good  conduct  of 
the  prisoner.  But  can  any  one  object,  that,  after  ten  years' 
imprisonment,  this  man  was  allowed  to  try  his  fortunes 
once  more  among  his  fellow-men  ?  Are  there  those  who 
would  have  had  no  faith  in  his  uninterrupted  good  conduct ; 
in  the  abundant  evidence  of  complete  reformation ;  in  the 
fact,  that,  in  prison  and  poverty  and  disgrace,  he  had  allied 
to  him  friends  of  name  and  fortune  and  Christian  virtues, 
who  were  ready  to  aid  him  in  his  good  resolutions  ?  If  any 
such  there  be,  let  them  visit  the  solitary  cell  of  the  despair- 
ing convict,  whose  crime  is  so  great  that  executive  clemency 
fears  to  approach  it.  Crime  and  despair  have  made  the 
features  appalling ;  all  the  worst  passions  of  our  nature  riot 
together  in  the  temple  dedicated  to  the  living  God ;  and  the 
death  of  the  body  is  almost  certainly  to  be  preceded  by  mad- 
ness, insanity,  and  idiocy  of  the  mind.  Or,  if  any  think 
that  this  person  escaped  with  too  light  an  expiation  for  so 
great  a  crime,  let  them  recall  the  incident  of  the  youth  who 
was  questioned  because  he  looked  with  fond  affection  into 
the  babbling  face  of  the  running  brook,  and,  apologizing,  as 
it  were,  in  reply,  said,  "  Oh,  yes,  it  is  very  beautiful,  and 
especially  to  me,  who  have  seen  no  water  for  four  years 
beside  what  I  have  had  to  drink  ! " 

Nor  is  it  assumed,  in  all  that  is  said  upon  this  subject, 
that  the  laws  are  severe,  or  that  the  judicial  administration 
of  them  is  not  characterized  by  justice  and  mercy.  In  the 
ordinary  course  of  affairs,  the  pardoning  power  is  not  resorted 
to  for  the  correction  of  any  error  or  injustice  of  the  courts  ; 


37 

but  it  is  the  means  by  which  the  State  tempers  its  justice 
with  mercy ;  and,  if  the  penalties  for  crime  were  less  than 
they  are,  the  necessity  for  the  exercise  of  this  power  would 
still  remain.  It  assumes  that  the  object  of  the  penal  law  is 
reformation  ;  and  if  this  object,  in  some  cases,  can  be  at- 
tained by  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power,  while  the 
rigid  execution  of  the  sentence  would  leave  the  criminal,  as 
it  usually  will,  still  hardened  and  unrepenting,  is  it  not  wise 
for  the  State  to  benefit  itself,  and  save  the  prisoner,  by  opening 
the  prison-doors,  and  inviting  the  convict  to  a  life  of  industry 
and  virtue  ?  And  let  it  never  be  forgotten,  though  it  is  the 
lowest  view  which  can  be  taken  of  crime  and  prisons,  that 
the  criminal  class  is  the  most  expensive  class  of  society.  In 
general,  it  is  a  non-producing  class,  and,  whether  in  prison 
or  out,  is  a  heavy  burden  upon  the  public.  The  mere  interest 
of  the  money  now  expended  in  prisons  of  approved  structure, 
is,  for  each  cell,  equal  annually  to  the  net  income  of  a  labor- 
ing man  ;  and  professional  thieves,  when  at  large,  often 
gather  by  their  art,  and  expend  in  profligacy,  many  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  And  here  we  see  how  much  wiser  it  is,  in 
an  economical  point  of  view,  to  save  the  child,  or  reform  the 
man,  than  to  allow  the  adult  criminal  to  go  at  large,  or  pro- 
vide for  his  safe-keeping  at  the  expense  of  the  State. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  pardoning  power,  wisely  exe- 
cuted, the  Commonwealth  becomes  a  family,  whose  law  is 
the  law  of  kindness.  It  is  the  paternal  element  of  govern- 
ment applied  to  a  class  of  people,  who,  by  every  process  of 
reasoning,  would  be  found  least  susceptible  to  its  influence. 
It  is  the  great  power  of  the  State,  both  in  the  wisdom 
required  for  its  judicious  exercise,  and  in  the  beneficial 
results  to  which  it  may  lead.  Men  may  desire  oflice  for 
its  emoluments  in  money  or  fame ;  they  may  seek  it  in  a 
spirit  of  rivalry  or  for  personal  pride,  or  for  the  opportunity 
it  brings  to  reward  friends  and  punish  enemies  :  but  all  these 

6 

397477 


38 


are  poor  and  paltry  compared  with  tlie  divine  privilege, 
exercised  always  in  reference  to  the  public  welfare,  of  elevat- 
ing the  prisoner  to  the  companionship  of  men,  and  cheering 
him  with  words  of  encouragement  on  his  entrance  anew  to 
the  duties  of  life. 

Yet  think  not  that  the  prison  is  a  reformatory  institution : 
far  from  it.  If  the  prison  should  be  left  to  the  influence  of 
legitimate  prison  discipline  merely,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
sum  of  improvement  would  equal  the  total  of  degradation. 
This  may  be  said  of  the  best  prisons  of  America,  of  New 
England.  The  prison  usually  contains  every  class,  from 
the  hardened  convict,  incarcerated  for  housebreaking,  rob- 
bery, or  murder,  to  the  youth  who  expiates  his  first  ofience, 
committed  under  the  influence  of  evil  companions,  or  sudden 
temptation.  The  contact  of  these  two  persons  must  be 
injurious  to  one  of  them,  without  in  any  degree  improving 
the  other.  Therefore  the  prison,  considered  without  refer- 
ence to  the  elevating  influence  of  the  pardoning  power,  has 
but  little  ability  to  reform  the  bad,  and  yet  possesses  a  sad 
tendency  to  debase  the  comparatively  good. 

We  miss,  too,  in  the  prison,  another  essential  element  of 
a  reformatory  institution.  Reformation  in  individual  cases 
may  take  place  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances ;  but 
an  institution  cannot  be  called  reformatory,  unless  its  prevail- 
ing moral  sentiment  is  actively,  vigorously,  and  always,  on 
the  side  of  progress  and  virtue.  This  moral  influence  must 
proceed  from  the  officers  of  the  institution ;  but  it  should  be 
increased  and  strengthened  by  the  sympathy  and  support  of 
the  inmates.  This  can  hardly  be  expected  of  the  prison. 
The  number  of  adult  persons,  experienced  in  crime  and 
hardened  by  its  penalties,  is  usually  so  large,  that  the  moral 
sentiment  of  the  officers,  and  the  weak  resolutions  of  the 
small  class  of  prisoners,  who,  under  favorable  circumstances, 
might  be  saved,  are  insufficient  to  give  a  healthy  tone  to  the 


39 


whole  institution.  The  prison  is  a  battle-field  of  vice  and 
virtue,  with  the  advantage  of  position  and  numbers  on  the 
side  of  vice.  Indeed,  there  can  hardly  be  a  worse  place  for 
the  young  or  the  inexperienced  in  crime.  This  is  the  testi- 
mony of  reason  and  of  all  experience ;  yet  the  public  mind 
is  slow  to  accept  the  remedy  for  the  evil.  It  is  a  privilege  to 
believe  that  the  worst  scenes  of  prison  life  are  not  found 
in  the  United  States.  Consider  this  case,  reported  in  an 
English  journal,  —  "  The  Ragged-School  Magazine  :  "  — 

"  D.  F.,  aged  about  fourteen.  Mother  dead  several  years  ; 
father  a  drunkard,  and  deserted  him  about  three  years  ago. 
Has  since  lived  as  he  best  could,  —  sometimes  going  errands, 
sometimes  begging  and  thieving.  Slept  in  lodging-houses 
when  he  had  money ;  but  very  often  walked  the  streets  at 
night,  or  lay  under  arches  or  doorsteps.  Has  only  one 
brother  :  he  lives  by  thieving.  Does  not  know  where  he  is ; 
has  no  other  friend  that  he  knows  ;  never  learnt  to  read ; 
was  badly  off  j  picked  a  handkerchief  out  of  a  gentleman's 
pocket,  and  was  caught  by  a  policeman ;  sent  to  Giltspur- 
street  Prison ;  was  fed  on  bread  and  water ;  instructed  every 
day  by  chaplain  and  schoolmaster ;  much  impressed  with 
what  the  chaplain  said;  felt  anxious  to  do  better;  behaved 
well  in  prison ;  was  well  flogged  the  morning  he  left ;  back 
bruised,  but  not  quite  bleeding;  was  then  turned  into  the  street, 
ragged,  barefooted,  friendless,  homeless,  penniless ;  walked 
about  the  streets  till  afternoon,  when  he  received  a  penny 
from  a  gentleman  to  buy  a  loaf ;  met,  next  day,  some  expert 
thieves  in  the  Minories ;  went  along  with  them,  and  con- 
tinues in  a  course  of  vagrancy  and  crime." 

And  what  else  could  have  been  expected  ?  The  govern- 
ment, having  sown  tares,  had  no  right  to  gather  wheat.  Yet, 
had  this  boy  been  provided  with  a  home,  either  in  a  family 
or  a  reform  school,  with  sufficient  labor,  and  proper  moral  and 
intellectual  culture,  he  mis^ht  have  been  saved.    Of  the  three 


40 


thousand  persons  annually  in  prison  at  Newgate,  four  hun- 
dred are  less  than  sixteen  years  of  age ;  and  twenty  thousand 
children  and  youth,  under  seventeen  years  of  age,  yearly 
pass  through  the  prisons  of  England.  ''  Many  of  the  juve- 
nile prisoners,"  it  is  said,  "  have  been  frequently  in  prison, 
and  are  very  hardened :  some,  from  nine  to  eleven,  have  been 
in  prison  repeatedly,  and  have  very  little  fear  of  it." 

The  officers  of  the  Liverpool  Borough  Jail  are  united  in 
the  opinion,  that,  when  a  boy  comes  once,  he  is  almost  certain 
to  come  again  and  again,  until  he  is  transported.     And,  of 
every  one  hundred  young  persons  discharged  from  the  prin- 
cipal prisons  of  Paris,  seventy-five  are  in  the  custody  of  the 
law  within  the  next  three  months.     A  professed  thief  said 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clay,  of  England,  "  I  am  convinced  of  this, 
having  too  bitterly  experienced  it,  that  communication  in  a 
prison  has  brought  thousands  to  ruin  :  I  speak  not  of  boys 
only,  but  of  men  and  women  also."    And  Mr.  Hill,  Recorder 
of  Birmingham,  says  of  the  sentences  imposed  in  his  court, 
"  We  are  compelled  to  carry  into  operation  an  ignorant  and 
vengeful  system,  which  augments  to  a  fearful  extent  the  very 
evils  it  was  framed  to  correct."     A  few  years  ago,  there  was 
a  lad  in  a  New-England  prison,  whose  experience  is  a  perti- 
nent illustration  of  the  evil  we  are  now  considering.     His 
father,  a  resident  of  a  city,  died  while  the  boy  was  in  infancy. 
He,  however,  soon  passed  beyond  the  control  of  his  mother, 
and,  at  an  early  age,  was  selected  by  a  brace  of  thieves,  who 
petted,  caressed,  and  humored  him,  until  he  was  completely 
subject  to  their  will.     He  was  then  made  useful  to  them  in 
their  profession  ;    but  at  last  they  were  all   arrested  while 
engaged   in  robbing  a   store,  —  the   boy  being  within   the 
building,  and  the  men  stationed  as  sentinels  without.     In  this 
case,  the  discretion  of  the  court,  which  distinguished  in  the 
sentence  between  the  hardened  villains  and  the  youth,  was 
inadequate    to    the    emergency.     The    child,   unfit    for    the 


41 


prison,  and  sure  to  be  contaminated  by  it,  ought  to  have 
been  sent  to  a  house  of  reformation,  a  reform  school,  or, 
perhaps  better  than  either,  to  the  custody  of  a  well-regulated, 
industrious  family.  Now,  in  such  cases,  the  distinction 
which  the  law,  judicially  administered,  does  not  make  and 
cannot  make,  must  be  made  by  the  Executive  in  the  wise 
exercise  of  the  pardoning  power.  But  this  power,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  has  its  limits  ;  and  on  one  side  it  is  limited 
to  those  who  have  been  convicted  of  crime. 

At  this  point,  we  may  see  how  faulty,  and  yet  how  con- 
stantly improving,  has  been  the  administration  of  the  crimi- 
nal law.  First,  we  have  the  prison  without  the  pardoning 
power,  except  in  cases  of  mal-administration  of  the  law,  — 
a  receptacle  of  the  bad  and  good,  where  the  former  are  not 
improved,  and  the  latter  are  hurried  rapidly  on  in  the  path 
of  degradation  and  crime.  Then  we  have  the  prison  under 
the  influence  of  the  pardoning  power,  more  or  less  wisely 
administered,  but,  in  its  best  form,  able  only  to  arrest  and 
counteract  partially  the  tendencies  to  evil.  Next,  from  the 
imperfections  of  this  system,  an  advancing  civilization  has 
evoked  the  Eeform  School,  which  gathers  in  the  young 
criminals  and  viciously  inclined  youth,  and  prepares  them, 
by  labor,  and  culture  of  the  mind  and  heart,  to  resist  the 
'  temptations  of  life.  But  this  institution  seems  to  wait, 
though  it  may  not  always  in  reality  do  so,  until  the  candi- 
date is  actually  a  criminal. 

Hence  the  necessity  which  calls  us  to-day  to  consider  the 
means  adopted  elsewhere,  and  the  means  now  to  be  employed 
here,  to  save  the  young  and  exposed  from  the  dangers  which 
surround  them. 

Passing  then  in  review,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
thoughts  which  have  been  presented,  I  deduce  from  them 
for  your  assent  and  support,  if  so  it  please  you,  the  follow- 
ing propositions  as  the  basis  of  what  I  have  yet  to  say :  — 


42 


I.  Government,  in  the  prevention  and  punishment  of  crime, 
should  be  paternal. 

II.  The  object  of  punishment  should  be  reformation,  and 
not  revenge. 

III.  The  law  of  reformation,  in  the  State  as  in  the  family, 
is  the  law  of  kindness. 

TV.  As  criminals  vary  in  age  and  in  experience  as  crimi- 
nals, so  should  their  treatment  vary. 

Y.  Prisons  and  jails  are  not,  in  their  foundation  and 
management,  reformatory  institutions,  and  only  become  so 
through  influences  not  necessarily  nor  ordinarily  acting  upon 
them. 

VI.  As  prisons  and  jails  deter  from  crime  through  fear 
only ;  exert  very  little  moral  influence  upon  the  youth  of 
either  sex  ;  and  fail  in  many  respects,  and  in  a  majority 
of  cases,  as  reformatory  institutions,  —  we  ought  to  avail 
ourselves  of  any  new  agency  which  promises  success. 

Influenced,  as  we  may  reasonably  suppose,  by  these  or 
kindred  sentiments,  and  aided  by  the  noblest  exhibitions 
of  private  benevolence,  the  State  has  here  founded  a  school 
for  the  prevention  of  crime.  As  we  have  everywhere  among 
us  schools  whose  leading  object  is  the  development  of  the 
intellect,  so  we  now  dedicate  a  school  whose  leading  object' 
is  the  development  of  the  afiections  as  the  basis  of  the 
cardinal  virtues  of  life. 

The  design  of  this  Institution  is  so  well  expressed  by 
the  Trustees,  that  it  is  a  favor  to  us  all  for  me  to  read  the 
first  chapter  of  the  By-Laws,  which,  by  the  consent  of 
the  Governor  and  Council,  have  been  established :  — 

"  The  intention  of  the  State  Government,  and  of  the 
benevolent  individuals  who  have  contributed  to  the  establish- 
ment of  this  Institution,  is  to  secure  a  home  and  a  school  for 
such   girls  as  may  be  presented  to  the  magistrates  of  the 


43 

State,  appointed  for  that  purpose,  as  vagrants,  perversely- 
obstinate,  deprived  of  the  control  and  culture  of  their  natural 
guardians,  or  guilty  of  petty  offences,  and  exposed  to  a  life 
of  crime  and  wretchedness. 

"  For  such  young  persons  it  is  proposed  to  provide,  not  a 
prison  for  their  restraint  and  correction,  but  a  family  school, 
where,  under  the  firm  but  kind  discipline  of  a  judicious 
home,  they  shall  be  carefully  instructed  in  all  the  branches 
of  a  good  education ;  their  moral  affections  be  developed  and 
cultivated  by  the  example  and  affectionate  care  of  one  who 
shall  hold  the  relation  of  a  mother  to  them  ;  be  instructed 
in  useful  and  appropriate  forms  of  female  industry  ;  and,  in 
short,  be  fitted  to  become  virtuous  and  happy  members  of 
society,  and  to  take  respectable  positions  in  such  relations  in 
life  as  Providence  shall  hereafter  mark  out  for  them. 

"  It  is  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  the  Institution  is 
not  to  be  considered  a  jplace  of  punishment,  or  its  subjects 
as  criminals.  It  is  to  be  an  inviting  refuge,  into  which  the 
exposed  may  be  gathered  to  be  saved  from  a  course  which 
would  inevitably  end  in  penal  confinenent,  irretrievable  ruin, 
or  hopeless  degradation. 

"  The  inmates  are  to  be  considered  hopeful  and  promising 
subjects  of  appropriate  culture,  and  to  be  instructed  and 
watched  over  with  the  care  and  kindness  which  their  pecu- 
liar exposures  demand,  and  with  the  confidence  which  youth 
should  ever  inspire. 

"  The  restraint  and  the  discipline  which  will  be  necessary 
are  to  be  such  as  would  be  appropriate  in  a  Christian  family 
or  in  a  small  boarding-school ;  and  the  '  law  of  kindness ' 
should  be  written  upon  the  heart  of  every  officer  of  the 
Institution.  The  chief  end  to  be  obtained,  in  all  the  culture 
and  discipline,  is  the  proper  development  of  the  faculties  and 
moral  affections  of  the  inmates,  however  they  may  have  been 
heretofore  neglected  or  perverted;   and  to  teach  them  the 


44 

art,  and  aid  them  in  securing  the  power,  of  self-govern- 
ment." 

Under  the  influence  of  these  sentiments,  we  pass,  if  pos- 
sible, in  the  work  of  reformation,  from  the  rigor  of  the 
prison  to  the  innocent  excitement  and  rivalry  of  the  school, 
the  comfort,  confidence,  and  joys  of  home.  This  Institution 
assumes  that  crime,  to  some  extent  at  least,  is  social,  local,  or 
hereditary,  in  its  origin  ;  that  the  career  of  hardened  criminals 
often  takes  its  rise  in  poverty,  idleness,  ignorance,  orphanage, 
desertion,  or  intemperance  of  parents,  evil  example,  or  the 
indifierence,  scorn,  and  neglect  of  society.  It  assumes,  also, 
that  there  is  a  period  of  life  —  childhood  and  youth  —  when 
these,  the  first  indications  of  moral  death,  may  be  eradicated, 
or  their  influence  for  evil  controlled.  In  this  land  of  educa- 
tion, of  liberty,  of  law,  of  labor,  and  religion,  we  may  not 
easily  imagine  how  universal  the  enumerated  evils  are  in 
many  portions  of  Europe.  The  existence  of  these  evils  is 
in  some  degree  owing  to  institutions  which  favor  a  few,  and 
oppress  the  masses ;  but  it  is  also  in  a  measure  due  to  the 
fact  that  Europe  is  both  old  and  multitudinous.  America, 
though  still  young,  is  even  now  multitudinous.  Hence, 
both  here  and  there,  crime  is  social  and  local.  The  truth  of 
this  statement  is  proportionate  to  the  force  of  the  causes  in 
the  respective  countries. 

We  are  assembled  upon  a  sloping  hillside,  overlooking  a 
quiet  country  village.  Happy  homes  are  embowered  in 
living  groves,  whose  summer  foliage  is  emblematical  of  inno- 
cence, progress,  and  peace.  "We  have  here  a  social  life,  with 
natural  impulses,  cultivated  worldly  interests,  moral  and 
religious  sentiments,  all  on  the  side  of  virtue.  Crime  here 
is  not  social.  If  it  appear  at  all,  it  is  segregated ;  and  as  the 
burning  taper  expires  when  placed  at  the  centre  of  the  spirit 
lamp's  coiling  sheet  of  flame,  so  vice  and  crime  cannot  thrive 
in  the  genial  embrace  of  virtue. 


45 


Circumstances  are  here  unfavorable  to  crime :  it  is  never 
social ;  but  sometimes,  though  not  often,  it  is  hereditary.  A 
family  for  many  generations  seems  to  have  a  criminal  ten- 
dency. Perhaps  the  members  are  not  in  any  generation 
guilty  of  great  crimes,  but  often  of  lesser  ones  ;  and  are, 
moreover,  in  the  daily  practice  of  vices  that  give  rise  to 
suspicion,  neglect,  and  reproach.  Here  together  are  asso- 
ciated, and  made  hereditary,  poverty,  ignorance,  idleness, 
beggary,  and  vagrancy.  Surely  these  instances  are  not  com- 
mon, probably  not  so  common  as  they  were  in  the  last 
generation.  But  how  is  the  boy  or  girl  of  such  a  family  to 
rise  above  these  circumstances,  and  throw  off  these  weights  ? 
Occasionally  one  of  great  energy  of  character  may  do  so  ; 
but,  if  the  children  of  more  fortunate  classes  can  scarcely 
escape  the  influence  of  temporary  evil  example,  how  shall 
they  who  are  born  to  a  heritage  of  poverty,  ignorance,  and 
ever-present  evil  counsel  and  conduct  under  the  guise  of 
parental  authority,  pass  to  the  position  of  intelligent,  indus- 
trious, respectable  members  of  society  ?  Some  external  in- 
fluence must  be  applied  ;  by  some  means  from  without,  the 
spell  must  be  broken  ;  the  fatal  succession  of  vicious  homes 
must  be  interrupted.  The  family  and  home  has  here  failed 
to  discharge  its  duty  to  itself  and  to  the  State ;  and  shall  not 
the  State  do  its  duty  to  itself,  by  assuming  the  paternal  rela- 
tion under  the  guidance  of  that  law  of  kindness,  which  we 
have  seen  effectual  to  control  the  insane,  and  melt  the 
hardened  criminal?  But  in  cities  we  find  vice,  not  only 
hereditary  in  families,  but  local  and  social;  so  that  streets 
and  squares  are  given  up,  as  it  were,  to  the  idle  and  vicious, 
whose  numbers  and  influence  produce  and  perpetuate  a 
public  sentiment  in  support  of  their  daily  practices.  This 
phase  of  life  is  not  due  to  the  fact  that  cities  are  wealthy,  or 
that  they  are  engaged  in  manufactures  or  commerce  ;  but  to 
the  single  fact  that  they  are  multitudinous,  and  their  inhabi- 

7 


46 


tants  are  therefore  in  daily  contact  with  each  other,  while, 
in  the  country,  individuals  and  families  are  comparatively 
isolated.  Yet  some  may  very  well  doubt  whether  such  an 
Institution  as  this,  with  all  the  benign  influences  of  home 
which  we  hope  to  see  centred  and  difl'usive  here,  will  save 
a  child  of  either  sex,  whose  first  years  shall  have  been  so 
unfavorable  to  a  life  of  virtue. 

The  answer  is  plain  :  as  in  other  reformatory  institutions, 
there  will  be  some  successes  and  some  failures.  The  failures 
will  be  reckoned  as  they  were ;  the  successes  will  be  a  clear 
gain. 

But  investigation  and  trial  will  show  a  natural  aptitude  or 

instinct  in  children  that  will  aid  in  their  improvement  and 

reformation.     There  has  been  in  one  of  our  public  schools 

a  lad,  who,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  could  not   recall 

distinctly  the  circumstances  of  his  life  previous  to  the  time 

when  he  was  a  newsboy  in  the  city  of  New  York.     He  was 

ignorant  of  father,  mother,  kindred,  family  name,  and  nation. 

At  an  early  age,  he  travelled  through  the  middle,  southern, 

and  south-western  States,  engaged  in  selling  papers  and  trash 

literature  ;  and,  for  a  time,  he  was  employed  by  a  showman 

to  stand  outside  the  tent,  and  describe  and  exaggerate  the 

attractions  within.     When  he  was  in  his  fourteenth  year,  he 

accepted  the  ojBfer  of  a  permanent  home ;   his  chief  object 

being,  as  he  said,  to  obtain  an  education.     "  I  have  found," 

said  he,  "  that  a  man  cannot  do  much  in  this  country  unless 

he  has  some  learning."    This  truth,  simple,  and  resting  upon 

a  low  view  of   education,  may  yet  be   of  infinite  value   if 

accepted  by  those,  who,  even  among   us,  are   advancing  to 

adult  life  without  the  preparation  which  our  common  schools 

are  well  fitted  to  furnish.     And  the  case  of  this  lad  may  be 

yet  farther  useful  by  showing  how  compensation  is  provided 

for  evils  and  neglects  in  mental  and  moral  relations,  as  well 

as  in  the  physical  and  natural  world.     Though  ignorant  of 


47 

books,  he  was  thoroughly  and  extensively  acquainted  with 
things,  and  consequently  made  rapid  progress  in  the  know- 
ledge of  signs ;  for  they  were  immediately  applied,  and  of 
course  remembered.  In  a  few  months,  he  took  a  respectable 
position  among  lads  of  his  age.  The  world  had  done  for 
this  boy  what  good  schools  do  not  always  accomplish,  — 
made  him  familiar  with  things  before  he  was  troubled  with 
the  signs  which  stand  for  them.  There  is  an  ignorance  in 
manhood ;  an  ignorance  under  the  show  of  profound  learn- 
ing ;  an  ignorance  for  which  schools,  academies,  and  colleges 
are  often  responsible ;  an  ignorance  that  neither  schools, 
academies,  nor  colleges  can  conceal  from  the  humblest  intel- 
lects ;  an  ignorance  of  life  and  things  as  they  are  within  the 
sphere  of  our  own  observation.  From  this  most  deplorable 
of  all  ignorance,  this  boy  had  escaped  ;  and  the  light  of 
learning  illumined  his  mind,  as  the  sun  in  his  daily  return 
reveals  anew  those  forms  of  life,  which,  in  ungenial  spring 
and  early  summer,  his  rays  had  warmed  into  existence,  and 
nourished  and  cherished  in  their  progress  towards  perfec- 
tion. 

And,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  let  us  indulge  the  hope  that 
the  events  of  this  day  and  the  faith  of  this  assembly  will 
declare  that  it  is  possible  to  save  the  children  of  orphanage, 
intemperance,  neglect,  scorn,  and  ignorance,  from  many  of 
the  evils  which  surround  them.  And  let  it  not  be  assumed 
and  believed  that  the  task  of  training  and  saving  girls  is  less 
hopeful  than  similar  labors  in  behalf  of  the  other  sex.  It 
has  been  found  true  in  Europe,  and  it  is  a  prevailing  opinion 
in  this  country,  that,  among  adults,  the  reformation  of 
females  is  more  difficult  than  the  reformation  of  males.  But 
an  analysis  of  this  fact,  assuming  it  to  be  true,  will  unfold 
qualities  of  female  character  that  render  it  peculiarly  easy  to 
shield  and  save  girls  who  are  exposed  to  a  life  of  crime ; 
for,  be   it   remembered,   this    Institution    deals   with   mere 


48 


children  who  are  exposed,  but  not  yet  lost.  It  differs, 
in  this  respect,  from  most  institutions,  although  many  in- 
clude this  class  with  others.  And  it  may  be  well  to  remark, 
that  every  reformatory  school  in  Europe,  even  those  altogether 
penal,  —  as  Parkhurst  in  England,  and  Mettray  in  France, 
—  have  had  some  measure  of  success.  Eighty-nine  per 
cent  of  the  colons,  or  convicts,  at  Mettray  have  become 
respectable  and  useful ;  while,  of  the  youth  sent  to  the  ordi- 
nary jails  and  prisons,  seventy-five  per  cent  are  totally  lost. 
It  is  not  fair,  therefore,  to  assume  that  this  attempt  will  fail. 
The  degree  of  success  will  depend  upon  circumstances  and 
causes,  to  a  great  extent,  within  human  control.  There  are, 
however,  three  elements  of  success  so  distinct,  that  they  may 
well  stand  as  the  appropriate  divisions  of  what  remains  for 
consideration.  They  are  the  right  action  of  the  government ; 
the  faithful  conduct  of  superintendent,  matrons,  and  assist- 
ants ;  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  people  of  the  State  in 
matters  which  do  not  admit  of  legislative  interference. 

The  act  of  the  legislature,  though  voluminous  in  its  details, 
contemplates  only  this  :  A  home  for  girls  between  seven  and 
sixteen  years  of  age,  who  are  found  "in  circumstances  of 
want  and  suffering,  or  of  neglect,  exposure,  or  abandonment, 
t)r  of  beggary."  The  first  idea  of  home  precludes  the  possi- 
bility of  the  inmates  being  sent  here  as  a  punishment  for 
crime  ;  therefore  they  are  neither  adjudged  nor  actual  crimi- 
nals, but  persons  exposed  to  a  vicious  life.  Secondly,  the 
idea  of  home  involves  the  necessity  of  reproducing  the  family 
relation,  as  circumstances  may  permit.  Hence,  the  members 
of  this  Institution  are  to  be  divided  into  families  ;  and  over 
each  a  matron  will  preside,  who  is  to  be  a  kind,  affectionate, 
discreet  mother  to  the  children. 

And  here,  for  once,  in  Massachusetts,  a  public  institution 
has  escaped  the  tyranny  of  bricks  and  mortar ;  and  we  are 
permitted  to  indulge  the  hope,  that  any  future  additions  will 


49 

tend  to  make  this  spot  a  neighborhood  of  unostentatious 
cottages,  quiet  rural  homes,  rather  than  the  seat  of  a  vast 
edifice,  which  may  provoke  the  wonder  of  the  sight-seer, 
inflame  local  or  State  pride,  but  can  never  be  an  effectual, 
economical  agency  in  the  work  of  reformation.  Every  public 
institution  has  some  great  object.  Architecture  should  bend 
itself  to  that  object,  and  become  its  servant ;  and  it  must  ever 
be  deemed  a  mistake,  when  utility  is  sacrificed  that  art  or 
fancy  may  have  its  way. 

Reformation,  if  wrought  by  external  influences,  is  the 
result  of  personal  kindness  :  personal  kindness  can  exist 
only  Avhere  there  is  intimate  personal  acquaintance  ;  this 
acquaintance  is  impossible  in  an  institution  of  two,  three,  or 
five  hundred  inmates.  But,  in  a  family  of  ten,  twenty, 
or  thirty,  this  knowledge  will  exist  and  this  kindness 
abound.  Warm  personal  attachments  will  grow  up  in  the 
family,  and  these  attachments  are  likely  to  become  safeguards 
of  virtue. 

Nor  let  the  objection  prevail  that  the  expense  is  to  be 
increased.  It  is  not  the  purpose  to  set  up  an  establishment 
and  maintain  it  for  a  specific  sum  of  money,  but  to  provide 
thorough  mental  and  moral  training  for  the  inmates.  Make 
the  work  efficient,  though  it  be  limited  to  a  small  number, 
rather  than  inaugurate  a  magnificent  failure. 

The  State  has  wisely  provided,  that  the  "  Trustees  shall 
cause  the  girls  under  their  charge  to  be  instructed  in  piety 
and  morality,  and  in  such  branches  of  useful  knowledge  as 
shall  be  adapted  to  their  age  and  capacity ;  they  shall  also  be 
instructed  in  some  regular  course  of  labor,  either  mechanical, 
manufacturing,  or  horticultural,  or  a  combination  of  these, 
and  especially  in  such  domestic  and  household  labor  and 
duties  as  shall  be  best  suited  to  their  age  and  strength,  dis- 
position, and  capacity ;   also  in  such  other  arts,  trades,  and 


50 


employments  as  may  seem  to  the  Trustees  best  adapted  to 
secure  their  reformation,  amendment,  and  future  benefit." 

It  is  sometimes  the  bane  of  the  poor  that  they  do  not  work, 
and  it  is  often  equally  the  bane  of  the  rich  that  they  have 
nothing  to  do.  The  idle,  both  ricli  and  poor,  carry  a  weight 
of  reproach  that  not  all  ought  to  bear.  The  disposition  and 
the  ability  to  labor  are  both  the  result  of  education ;  and  why 
should  the  uneducated  be  better  able  to  labor  than  to  read 
Greek  and  Latin  ?  Surely  only  that  there  are  more  teachers 
in  one  department  than  in  the  others ;  but  a  good  teacher  of 
labor  may  be  as  uncommon  as  a  good  teacher  of  Latin  or 
Greek.  There  is  a  false,  vicious,  unmanly  pride  which  leads 
our  youth  of  both  sexes  to  shun  labor ;  and  it  is  the  business 
of  the  true  teacher  to  extirpate  this  growth  of  a  diseased 
civilization.  And  we  could  have  no  faith  in  this  school, 
if  it  were  not  a  school  of  industry  as  well  as  of  morality,  — 
a  school  in  which  the  divine  law  of  labor  is  to  be  observed 
equally  with  the  laws  of  men.  Industry  is  near  to  all  the 
virtues.  In  this  era,  every  branch  of  labor  is  an  art,  and 
sometimes  it  is  necessary  for  the  laborer  to  be  both  an  artist 
and  a  scientific  person.  How  great,  then,  the  misfortune  of 
those,  whether  rich  or  poor,  who  are  uninstructed  in  the 
business  of  life !  We  should  hardly  know  what  judgment 
to  pass  upon  a  man  of  wealth  who  should  entirely  neglect 
the  education  of  his  children  in  schools  ;  but  the  common 
indifierence  to  industrial  learning  is  not  less  reprehensible. 
Labor  should  be  systematic ;  not  constant,  to  be  sure,  but 
always  to  be  reckoned  as  the  great  business  of  life,  never  to 
be  avoided,  never  to  cease. 

Labor  gives  us  a  better  knowledge  of  the  fulness,  magni- 
ficence, and  glory  of  the  divine  blessing  of  creation.  This 
lesson  may  be  learned  by  the  farmer  in  the  wonderful 
growth  of  vegetation  ;  by  the  artist  in  the  powers  of  inven- 
tion   and  taste  of  the  human  mind  and  soul ;   by  the  man 


51 


of  science  in  the  beauty  of  an  insect  or  the  order  of  a 
universe.  The  vision  of  the  idle  is  limited.  The  ability  to 
see  may  be  improved  by  education  as  much  as  the  ability 
to  read,  remember,  or  converse.  With  many  people,  not 
seeing  is  a  habit.  Near-sighted  persons  are  generally  those 
who  declined  to  look  at  distant  objects ;  and  so  nature,  true 
to  the  most  perfect  rules  of  economy,  refused  to  keep  in 
order  faculties  that  were  entirely  neglected.  The  laborer's 
recompense  is  not  money,  nor  the  accumulation  of  worldly 
goods  chiefly ;  but  it  is  in  his  increased  ability  to  observe, 
appreciate,  and  enjoy  the  world  with  its  beauties  and  bless- 
ings. Nor  is  labor,  the  penalty  for  sin,  a  punishment 
merely,  but  a  divine  means  of  reformation.  It  is  therefore  a 
moral  disciplhie  that  all  should  submit  to,  and  especially  is 
it  a  means  by  which  the  youth  here  are  to  be  prepared 
for  the  duties  of  life.  But  industry  is  not  only  near  to 
all  the  virtues;  it  is  itself  a  virtue,  as  idleness  is  a  vice. 
The  word  labor  is,  of  course,  used  in  the  broadest  significa- 
tion. Labor  is  any  honest  employment,  or  use  of  the  head 
or  hands,  which  brings  good  to  ourselves,  and  consequently, 
though  indirectly,  brings  good  to  our  fellow-men. 

The  State  has  now  furnished  a  home,  reproduced,  as  far  as 
practicable,  the  family  relation,  and  provided  for  a  class 
of  neglected  and  exposed  girls  the  means  of  mental,  indus- 
trial, moral,  and  religious  culture.  The  plan  appears  well  ,* 
but  its  practical  value  depends  upon  the  fidelity  of  its  execu- 
tion by  the  superintendent,  matrons,  and  assistants.  I  ven- 
ture to  predict  in  advance,  that  the  degree  of  success  is 
mainly  within  their  control.  This  is  a  school,  they  are 
the  teachers ;  and  they  must  bend  to  the  rule  which  all 
true  teachers  willingly  accept. 

The  teacher  must  be  what  he  would  have  his  pupils 
become.  This  was  the  standard  of  the  great  Teacher ;  this 
is  the  aim  of  all  who   desire  to  make  education  a  matter 


52 


of  reality  and  life,  and  not  merely  a  knowledge  of  signs  and 
forms.  Here  will  be  needed  a  spirit  and  principle  of  devo- 
tion which,  will  be  fruitful  in  humility,  patience,  earnestness, 
energy,  good  words  and  works  for  all.  Here  must  be 
strictness,  possibly  sternness  of  discipline ;  but  this  is  not 
incompatible  with  the  qualities  mentioned.  It  is  a  principle 
at  Mettray  to  combine  unbounded  personal  kindness  with  a 
rigid  exclusion  of  personal  indulgence. 

This  principle  produces  good  results  that  are  twofold  in 
their  influence.  First,  personal  kindness  in  the  teacher 
induces  a  reciprocal  quality  in  the  pupils.  The  habit  of 
personal  kindness,  proceeding  from  right  feelings,  is  a  potent 
element  of  good  in  the  family,  the  school,  and  the  prison. 
Indeed,  it  is  an  element  of  good  citizenship;  and  no  one 
destitute  of  this  quality  ought  to  be  intrusted  with  the 
education  of  children,  or  the  punishment  and  reformation  of 
criminals. 

Secondly,  the  rigid  exclusion  of  personal  indulgence  trains 
the  inmates  in  the  virtue  of  self-control.  And  may  it  not  be 
forgotten  that  all  apparent  reformation  must  be  hedged  by 
this  cardinal  virtue  of  practical  life  ?  Otherwise  the  best 
formed  expectations  will  fail ;  the  highest  hopes  will  be  disap- 
pointed ;  and  the  life  of  these  teachers,  and  the  promise  of  the 
youth  who  may  be  gathered  here,  will  be  like  the  sun  and 
the  winds  upon  the  desert,  which  bring  neither  refreshing 
showers  nor  fruitful  harvests.  Every  form  of  labor  requires 
faith.  This  labor  requires  faith  in  yourselves,  and  faith  in 
others ;  —  faith  in  yourselves,  as  teachers  here,  based  upon 
your  own  knowledge  of  what  you  are  and  are  to  do ;  and 
faith  in  others  upon  the  divine  declaration  that  God  breathed 
into  man  the  breath  of  life,  and  he  became  a  living  soul,  — 
not  merely  as  the  previous  creations,  possessed  of  animal 
life  ;  but  as  a  sentient,  intellectual,  and  moral  being,  capable 
of  a  progressive,  immortal  existence. 


53 

"  'Tis  nature's  law 
That  none,  the  meanest  of  created  things, 

Should  exist 
Divorced  from  good,  —  a  spirit  and  piilse  of  good, 
A  life  and  soul,  to  every  mode  of  being 
Insepax'ably  linked. 

See,  then,  your  only  conflict  is  with  men ; 
And  your  sole  strife  is  to  defend  and  teach 
The  unillumined,  who,  without  such  care, 
Must  dwindle." 


And  always,  as  in  the  beginning,  the  reliance  of  this 
School  is  upon  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth,  whose  voice 
has  spoken  into  existence  another  instrumentality  to  give 
eyes  to  the  blind,  ears  to  the  deaf,  a  heart  for  the  work  of 
this  life,  and  a  hope  for  an  hereafter,  to  those  who  from 
neglect  and  vicious  example  would  soon  pass  the  period  of 
reformation.  But  may  the  people  always  bear  in  mind  the 
indisputable  truth,  that  schools  for  the  criminal  and  the  ex- 
posed yield  not  their  perfect  fruits  in  a  day  or  a  year !  They 
must,  if  they  will  know  whether  the  seed  here  planted  pro- 
duces a  harvest,  wait  for  the  birth  and  growth  of  one 
generation,  the  decay  and  death  of  another.  Yet  these 
years  of  delay  will  not  be  years  of  uncertainty.  The  public 
faith  will  be  strengthened  continually  by  cases  of  reforma- 
tion, usefulness,  and  virtue.  But,  whether  these  cases  be 
few  or  many,  let  no  one  despond.  The  career  of  the  crimi- 
nal is  often,  in  money  and  always  in  influence,  the  heaviest 
burden  which  an  individual  can  impose  upon  society. 

This  is  a  School  for  girls ;  and  we  may  properly  appeal  to 
the  women  of  Massachusetts  to  do  their  duty  to  this  Institu- 
tion, and  to  the  cause  it  represents.  We  can  already  see  the 
second  stage  in  the  existence  of  many  of  those  who  are  to 
be  sent  here  ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  fear,  that  the  rela- 
tion of  mistress  and  servant  among  us   is  in  some  degree 

8 


54 


destitute  of  those  moral  qualities  that  make  the  house  a 
home  for  all  who  dwell  beneath  its  roof.  But,  whether  this 
fear  be  the  voice  of  truth  or  the  suggestion  of  prejudice, 
that  woman  shall  not  be  held  blameless,  who,  under  the 
influence  of  indolence,  pride,  fashion,  or  avarice,  shall  neg- 
lect, abuse,  or  oppress  the  humblest  of  her  sex  who  goes 
forth  from  these  walls  into  the  broad  and  dangerous  path 
of  life.  But  this  day  shall  not  leave  the  impression  that 
they  who  are  most  interested  in  the  elevation  and  refinement 
of  female  character  are  indiflerent  to  the  means  employed, 
and  the  results  which  are  to  wait  on  them. 

The  greatest  delineator  of  human  character  in  this  age 
says,  as  the  images  of  neglected  children  pass  before  his 
vision,  — 

"There  is  not  one  of  them  —  not  one — but  sows  a  har- 
vest mankind  must  reap.  From  every  seed  of  evil  in  this 
boy,  a  field  of  ruin  is  grown  that  shall  be  gathered  in,  and 
garnered  up,  and  sown  again  in  many  places  in  the  world, 
until  regions  are  overspread  with  wickedness  enough  to 
raise  the  waters  of  another  deluge.  Open  and  unpunished 
murder  in  a  city's  streets  would  be  less  guilty  in  its  daily 
toleration  than  one  such  spectacle  as  this.  There  is  not  a 
father^  by  whose  side,  in  his  daily  or  nightly  walk,  these 
creatures  pass ;  there  is  not  a  mother  among  all  the  ranks  of 
loving  mothers  in  this  land  ;  there  is  no  one  risen  from  the 
state  of  childhood,  —  but  shall  be  responsible  in  his  or  her 
degree  for  this  enormity.  There  is  not  a  country  throughout 
the  earth  on  which  it  would  not  bring  a  curse.  There  is  no 
religion  upon  earth  that  it  would  not  deny ;  there  is  no  peo- 
ple on  earth  that  it  would  not  put  to  shame." 

This  Institution,  then,  in  the  true  relation  of  things,  is  not 
the  glory  of  the  State,  but  its  shame.  It  speaks  of  families, 
of  schools,  of  the  church,  of  the  State,  not  yet  educated  to  the 
discharge  of  their  respective  duties  in  the  right  way.     But 


55 


it  is  the  glory  of  the  State  as  a  visible  effort  to  correct  evils, 
atone  for  neglects,  and  compensate  for  wrongs.  It  comes  to 
do,  in  part  at  least,  what  the  family,  the  school,  the  press, 
the  library,  the  sabbath,  have  not  yet  perfectly  accomplished. 
As  these  agencies  partially  failed,  so  will  this  ;  but  as  the 
law  of  progress  exists  for  all,  because  perfection  with  us  is 
unattainable,  we  may  reasonably  have  faith  in  human  im- 
provement, and  that  the  life  of  each  succeeding  generation 
shall  unite,  in  ever-increasing  proportions,  the  innocence  of 
childhood  with  the  wisdom  of  age. 


His  Excellency  Henry  J.  Gardner,  Governor  of 
the  Commonwealth,  was  introduced,  and  expressed 
his  gratification  at  witnessing  the  transfer  of  the 
buildings  from  the  hands  of  the  Commissioners,  who 
had  erected  them,  into  those  of  the  Trustees,  who 
were  to  maintain  the  care  of  the  Institution.  After 
alluding  to  the  generous  private  munificence  which 
had  contributed  to  the  design.  His  Excellency  said, 
"  I  should  be  derelict  in  my  duty,  did  I  not  express 
an  earnest  and  emphatic  approbation  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Commissioners  have  performed  their 
duties ;  and  I  sincerely  believe  that  no  commission 
in  Massachusetts  ever  worked  with  greater  diligence, 
more  entire  assiduity,  and  a  greater  regard  to  true 
economy,  than  the  commission  which  has  created 
the  scene  before  me."  And  he  expressed  a  feeling 
of  equally  confident  assurance  in  the  fidelity  of  the 


56 


Trustees,    Superintendent,   and    Matrons,    on   whom 
now  devolves  the  management  of  the  Institution. 

Hon.  John  H.  Wilkin  s,  in  behalf  of  the  Com- 
missioners, officially  notified  His  Excellency  that  the 
buildings  were  completed;  whereupon  the  following 
proclamation  was  read  :  — 

©ommonfeDealtJ  of  P(assac|)usett», 
BY  HIS  EXCELLENCY  HENRY  J.   GARDNER, 

Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachzisetts. 

Whereas,  by  the  third  section  of  an  Act  passed  by  the  Legislature  of 
this  Commonweahh,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  May,  A.D.  1855,  entitled, 
"  An  Act  to  estabHsh  a  State  Reform  School  for  Girls,"  it  is  provided,  that, 
"  as  soon  as  the  Governor  shall  have  been  notified  by  the  Commissioners 
appointed  under  certain  resolves  '  for  the  purchase  of  a  site  and  the  erection 
of  buildings  thereon  for  a  State  Reform  School  for  Girls,'  that  said  buildings 
are  prepared  for  occupancy,  he  shall  forthwith  issue  his  proclamation,  giving 
public  notice  of  the  fact." 

And,  by  the  fourth  section  of  the  Act  aforesaid,  it  is  provided,  that, 
"  after  proclamation  shall  have  been  made,  as  provided  in  the  third  section 
of  this  Act,  whenever  any  girl,  above  the  age  of  seven  and  imder  the  age  of 
sixteen  years,  shall  be  brought  by  any  constable,  police  officer,  or  other  inhabi- 
tant of  any  city  or  town  in  this  Commonwealth,  before  any  Judge  of  Probate 
or  Commissioner  authorized  and  empowered  to  act  in  the  case  by  the  eighth 
section  of  this  Act,  upon  the  allegation  or  complaint  that  the  said  gu'l  has 
committed  any  offence  known  to  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  punishable 
by  fine  or  imprisonment,  other  than  such  as  may  be  punished  by  imprison- 
ment for  life ;  or  that  she  is  leading  an  idle,  vagrant,  or  \icious  life ;  or  has 
been  found  in  any  street,  highway,  or  public  place  within  this  Common- 
wealth, in  circumstances  of  want  and  suffering,  or  of  neglect,  exposure,  or 
abandonment,  or  of  beggar}',  —  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Judge  or  Com- 
missioner aforesaid,  before  whom  the  said  girl  is  brought,  to  issue  a  summons 
or  order,  in  WTiting,  addressed  to  the  father  of  said  girl,  if  he  be  living  and 
resident  within  the  town  or  city  where  the  said  girl  was  found,  and,  if  not, 
then  to  her  mother,  if  Tshe  be  Hving  and  so  resident ;  and,  if  there  be  no 
father  or  mother  of  said  girl  resident  within  said  town  or  city,  then  addressed 


57 

to  the  lawful  guardian  of  said  girl  if  any  there  be  resident  within  said  town 
or  city,  or,  if  not,  to  the  person  with  whom,  according  to  the  examination  of 
the  girl,  and  the  testimony,  if  any,  received  by  the  Judge  or  Commissioner 
aforesaid,  the  said  girl  shall  reside  ;  and,  if  there  be  no  person  with  whom 
she  statedly  resides,  the  Judge  or  Commissioner  may,  at  his  discretion,  appomt 
some  suitable  person  to  act  in  her  behalf,  requiring  him  or  her,  as  the  case 
may  be,  to  appear  before  him  at  such  time  and  place  as  he  shall  in  said  sum- 
mons or  order  appoint,  and  to  show  cause,  if  any  there  be,  why  the  said 
girl  shall  not  be  committed  to  the  Reform  School  for  Girls,  established  by 

this  Act." 

And,  whereas  the  Commissioners,  appointed  under  the  resolves  above 

referred  to,  have  given  me  notice  that  the  buildings  erected  for  said  State 

Reform  School  for  Girls,  at  Lancaster,  in  the  County  of  Worcester,  are  now 

ready  for  the  reception  of  inmates,  — 

Noio  therefore,  I,  Henry  J.  Gardner,  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts,  do  issue  this  proclamation,  gi^'ing  pubUc  notice  to  the  Com- 
missioners under  the  Act,  magistrates  and  people  of  this  Commonwealth,  of 
the  fact  that  said  State  Reform  School  for  Girls,  now  called  and  known  by 
authority  of  the  Legislatm-e  as  the  State  Industrial  School,  is  prepared  for 

occupancy.  i  ,     ,-    ^ 

Given  under  my  hand  and  the  seal  of  the  Commonwealth,  this  twenty- 
seventh  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  fifty-six.  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the  eighty-first. 

Henry  J.  Gardner. 

By  His  Excellency  the  Governor, 

Francis  DeWitt, 

Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth 
©oU  sabe  tjc  ©ommontocalti)  of  i^assacljiisctts* 


The  Governor  directed  Hon.  Francis  DeWitt,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Commonwealth,  who  was  present,  to 
cause  the  proclamation  to  be  recorded  and  published 
in  the  usual  manner.  This  official  duty  completed 
the  formal  ceremonies  of  the  day. 

The  choir  then  sung  an  anthem ;  and  Col.  F.  B. 
Fay,  of  Chelsea,  who  is  both  a  Commissioner  and 


58 


Trustee,  then  invited  the  guests  to  repair  to  tables, 
laid  in  another  part  of  the  grounds,  where  a  collation 
had  been  provided  by  the  ladies  of  Lancaster. 

Accordingly  the  company  proceeded,  at  about  twen- 
ty minutes  before  four  o'clock,  to  the  tables,  where 
they  found  a  truly  generous  and  excellent  provision 
made  for  their  refreshment  by  their  fair  entertainers. 
Before  commencing,  Col.  Fay  addressed  the  company 
as  follows :  — 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  —  A  very  pleasing  duty  has 
been  assigned  me,  —  to  invite  you  to  partake  of  a  collation, 
which  the  ladies  of  Lancaster,  by  their  well-known  hospitality, 
have  kindly  and  generously  furnished  for  the  present  occa- 
sion. For  this  act  alone,  they  would  be  justly  entitled  to 
our  warmest  acknowledgments  and  heartfelt  gratitude.  But 
this  is  not  all.  These  good  ladies  seem  never  to  be  weary 
of  well-doing.  They  are  like  "  ol'  Virginny,  dat  neber  tire." 
I  have  spent  most  of  my  time  here  for  some  months ;  and  I 
may  say,  that  almost  daily  some  of  them  have  visited  us,  — 
watching  our  progress,  speaking  words  of  encouragement  and 
approbation,  and  stimulating  us  to  persevere ;  thus  proving 
their  interest  in  the  object  of  this  institution,  and  affording 
the  strongest  assurance  that  they  will  be  faithful  auxiliaries 
to  our  Superintendent  and  Matrons  in  the  discharge  of  their 
several  duties.  Permit  me  to  add,  that  the  citizens  of  Lan- 
caster in  general,  with  a  liberality  which  deserves  all  praise, 
have  extended  to  the  Commissioners  every  facility  that  we 
could  desire ;  and  while  we  have  been  indebted  to  many  of 
them  for  special  favors,  which  time  will  not  permit  me  to 
enumerate,  I  should  omit  an  act  of  justice  were  I  to  pass  in 
silence  the  services  of  Jacob  Fisher,  Esq.,  whose  valuable  an4 
important  aid  has  been  of  so  marked  a  character. 


59 


After  a  sufficient  time  spent  in  the  discussion  of  the 
material  repast,  Col.  Fay  again  called  the  company  to 
order,  and  Mr.  Wilkins  proposed  the  first  regular 
toast,  as  follows :  — 

"  The  good  old  CommonweaUJi  of  Massacliuseits.  —  A  '  gem  of  purest  ray  serene ' 
is  this  day  added  to  her  '  crown  jewels.'  " 

His  Excellency  made  a  brief  speech  in  response  to 
this  toast,  complimenting  the  town  of  Lancaster,  and 
concluding  with  the  following :  — 

"  The  Town  of  Lancaster,  —  long  known  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
rural  towns  of  Massachusetts,  henceforward  to  be  famed  in  a  new  aspect  of  civili- 
zation." 

The  second  regular  toast  was  omitted  in  conse- 
quence of  the  absence  of  Ex-Governor  Washburn; 
but  we  print  it,  viz. :  — 

"  That  Ex-Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  —  by  whose  recommendations,  and 
under  whose  auspices,  provision  was  made  for  the  establishment  of  our  Institution." 

The  third  regular  toast  was  the  following :  — 

"  The  Private  Contributors  to  the  Fund  for  the  Establishment  of  our  School,  —  gene 
rous  co-laborers  with  the  State,  —  in  loco  parentis,  —  silver  threads  of  brotherly 
charity  intertwining  and  encircling  the  golden  cord  of  fatherly  care." 

The  Chairman  called  upon  Mr.  Charles  Hale, 
Editor  of  the  "  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,"  to  respond 
to  this  toast.  After  some  playful  allusions,  Mr.  Hale 
said  that  he  could  not  pretend  to  have  been  one  of 
the  subscribers  to  the  fund :  printers  are  proverbially 
"poor  printers"  always;  but,  as  an  humble  member 
of  the  PresSs  he  would   claim   for   the   Press   some 


60 


share   in   bringing   the    subject  to   the  attention  of 
the   public.     The  act  of  the   Legislature,  in    1854, 
appropriated   twenty  thousand  dollars  for   the  esta- 
blishment   of  the    School,   provided    an   equal   sum 
were    subscribed   by   private  individuals   within   six 
months.      That  period  had  more  than  half  elapsed, 
when   Governor  Washburn,  who  had  early  been   a 
friend   and   advocate   of  the   establishment   of  such 
an  institution,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  editors   of 
several  papers,  inviting  their  attention  to  the  subject. 
Mr.  Hale  had  the  pleasure  of  writing  an  article  for 
the  "  Daily  Advertiser,"  in  which  the   plan  was  set 
forth ;    and   so   immediately  did   the   community  re- 
spond, that,  on  the  same  morning  that  the  article 
appeared,  he  received  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  of 
Boston,  agreeing  to  be  one  of  twenty  to  subscribe  a 
thousand  dollars  each ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  another 
letter  from  another  citizen,  offering  to  do  any  thing 
in  his  power,  and  proposing,  in  case  it  were  deemed 
best  to  complete  the  amount  in  smaller  subscriptions, 
to  be  one  of  a  hundred  to  pay  two  hundred  dollars 
each.     The  subject  was  kept  before  the  public;  and 
within  seven  days  more  than  one-quarter,  and  within 
eighteen   days    one-half,  of  the   necessary  sum   was 
pledged   through   the  columns  of  the  "  Advertiser." 
Public-spirited  individuals  made  collections,  and  the 
whole  sum  was  something  more  than  completed  within 
the  prescribed  time.     Mr.  Hale  than  adverted  to  some 
of  the  leading  aspects  in  which  the  School  presents 


61 


itself,  and  declared  that  in  one  respect  its  foundation 
marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  civilization ;  viz., 
the  recognition  by  government,  to  a  marked  and 
peculiar  degree,  for  the  first  time,  of  the  influence 
of  woman  upon  social  life  and  in  the  body  politic. 
This  is  the  first  time  a  government  has  sought  to 
prevent  crime  by  providing  a  peculiar  social  education 
for  women.  Eespect  for  woman  is  a  mark  of  civili- 
zation ;  and  it  is  really  an  indication  of  the  advance 
of  the  world  in  civilization,  that,  while  the  late  war, 
in  which  three  great  European  powers  have  been 
engaged,  has  not  furnished  the  page  of  history  with 
the  name  of  a  single  hero  of  whom  the  world  can 
fairly  be  proud,  that  same  war  has  furnished  the 
world  with  a  heroine  in  Florence  Nightingale,  whose 
laurels  are  brighter  than  any  warrior  ever  won,  and 
whose  name  will  never  be  forgotten.  He  closed  with 
a  toast  to  this  effect. 

The  Chairman  then  announced  the  fourth  regular 
toast :  — 

"  The  Purpose  and  Theory  of  the  Industrial  School,  —  a  scabbard  of  mercy  cover- 
ing the  sword  of  justice." 

A  brief  and  entertaining  response  was   made  by 
Deacon  Grant.     Fifth  regular  toast :  — 

"  Restraint  under  Proclivities  to  Vice,  without  Confinement,  —  a  problem  more  diffi- 
cult to  solve  than  '  a  church  without  a  bishop,'  or  'a  State  without  a  king.'  " 


Sixth  regular  toast :  — 


"  The  Citizens  of  Lancaster.  —  We  thank  them  for  their  old  common :  the  water 
that  gushes  from  its  centre  will  make  it  a  new  common." 

9 


62 


Capt.  Fisher,  of  Lancaster,  made  an  appropriate 
response.     Seventh  regular  toast :  — 

"  The  Ladies  of  Lancaster.  —  The  ample  provision  made  by  them  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  visitors  to-day  attests  the  deep  interest  they  feel  in  the  success  of  an 
institution  established  for  the  benefit  of  their  sex." 

Kev.  Christopher  D.  Thayer,  of  Beverly  (a  native 
of  Lancaster),  was  call  upon  to  respond  to  this  senti- 
ment, which  duty  he  discharged  with  much  eloquence, 
calling  to  mind  the  noble-hearted  ladies  who  in  times 
past  resided  in  the  Stillwell  Mansion,  when  the  Hiller 
and  Cleveland  families  occupied  it.  He  believed  they 
would  be  gratified  with  the  use  to  which  the  build- 
ings and  grounds  are  now  put.  He  also  alluded  to 
the  apparent  congeniality  of  the  atmosphere  to  edu- 
cation, indicated  by  the  fact  that  Jared  Sparks,  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  College ;  George  B.  Emerson ;  and 
Solomon  P.  Miles,  —  three  gentlemen  distinguished 
in  the  cause  of  education,  —  had  lived  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  present  location.  From  these 
influences  and  others,  he  drew  a  happy  augury  for 
the  success  of  the  new  Institution. 

This  speech  closed  the  intellectual  banquet ;  for  it 
was  now  time  for  those  visitors  who  intended  to  take 
the  railroad  to  Boston  to  proceed  to  the  station.  In- 
deed, the  time  for  all  the  speeches  had  obviously  been 
limited ;  and  if  "  brevity"  be  indeed  "  the  soul  of  wit " 
(as  we  think  it  truly  is),  never  were  there  half  a  dozen 
wittier  speeches  than  those  which  followed  the  colla- 


63 


tion  given  by  the  ladies  of  Lancaster  on  this  memo- 
rable occasion.  The  company  separated  in  the  best 
of  hnmor,  greatly  gratified  and  satisfied  with  the  cele- 
bration of  the  day ;  the  pleasure  of  which  literally  no 
cloud  occurred  to  mar.  The  Boston  train  left  Lan- 
caster at  five  o'clock,  and  reached  the  city  shortly 
after  seven  without  accident. 


TTMTVF^CT-TTV 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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LIBKARY 


